Location

White Horse Wood Country Park
Detling Hill, Kent
ME14 3JE
View on map

Come by car

From the M20 exit at Junction 7. From the M2 exit at Junction 5. Parking is available (bring change for the parking meters).

Come by train

The Country Park is a 35 minute walk from Bearstead Station, the most direct route is 1.5 miles along Thurnham lane.

Come by foot

White Horse Wood is located on the edge of many famous walking routes in Kent including the North Downs Way and the Pilgrims Way. See the National Trails website for details.

Ash to Ash

We are sad to share the news that the ash sculpture was sadly felled by Storm Eunice in February 2022 and is still visible but no longer standing.

A major public artwork by Ackroyd & Harvey commissioned by The Ash Project was sited in White Horse Wood Country Park, in the heart of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

These monolithic sculptural works by the internationally renowned artists was both a celebration of ash trees and memorial to the devastating effects of ash dieback on the most common tree in the Kent Downs. White Horse Wood Country Park is free to visit and open to the public.

“The sound of the trees suffering is audible. But we need to develop new organs of perception so that we can hear this sound in the world, recognise what it means and shape new social forms that do not continue this great suffering of all nature.” (From a discussion with Beuys in 1980)

The artists undertook a substantial research and development project as part of this work, connecting to scientists, researchers, craftspeople and thinkers to create a new work that responds to the loss of ash across the globe.

Artist statement
Artist research and development blog
Credits for the build of the sculpture
Read about the launch event
Read the specially commissioned essay Ash by Jay Griffiths