Farley Copse is a lovely shady oasis on the western edge of Bracknell. Despite being completely surrounded by houses it is always surprisingly quiet in the copse. In maps from the 1870s, Farleymoor Copse is shown covering a large area to the south of the London Road. Sometime around 1890, the Copse was divided and two houses were built. In the western section we have Farley Moor House, which today is part of the Golden Orb Wood estate. The house was first occupied by a retired Army Colonel William Faussett. A much larger house was built in the eastern section, recently demolished and replaced by the Kings and Queens Quarter flats. Farley Copse House was first occupied by Sir Donald MacNabb, a retiree from the Indian Civil Service. The dividing line between the two estates is still marked by a double line of conifers across the middle of the copse.
To demonstrate their wealth, both men appear to have planted new trees in the copse including the magnificent redwood that dominates the northern part of the copse. By the 1930s, a network of rides and additional buildings had been created in the copse. It seems likely that the copse was working woodland as hazel and sweet chestnut appear to have been harvested at this time and there is a low brick structure in the eastern section of the woodland that appears to have been built to manage the flow of water through the site.
Subsequent developments around the copse have nibbled away at it, but in some places trees planted in the late 19th and early 20th century have partly offset that.
The evolution of the copse has resulted in a mix of different woody habitats from dark coniferous areas to more open hazel coppice with an over-story of oak, maple or sweet chestnut. There are areas dominated by tall beech trees and others dominated by oak. Many of these oak and beech trees are older than Farley Moor House and some of the sweet chestnuts probably are too. In the southwest corner of the copse stands a magnificent oak tree which is probably more than 500 years old, making it one of the oldest in the parish of Binfield. It is likely that this oak tree started life on the scrubby sandy heath that was typical if this area in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is one of the few local oak trees trees that survived Charles IIs decision to rebuild the English fleet after the Dutch raid on the Medway in 1667.
The diversity of type and age of trees in the copse creates the ideal conditions for a range of wildlife. Badgers, roe deer and muntjac deer forage amongst the trees while a range of invertebrates make the most of the rotting wood. Despite its relatively small size, rarer birds turn up in the wood from tawny owls to the tiny firecrest.
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