Park Wood Nature Reserve

Park Wood is a Local Nature Reserve in Bedford, England. It is open to the public and has a network of paths and a community orchard.

Park Wood Local Nature Reserve was originally arable farmland and has been developed as a woodland in phases since the 1970s. The reserve covers 11 hectares and is 90 percent covered with planted trees and shrubs. There is also a community orchard, two ponds, a small stream and areas of grassland. It is open to the public via a network of paths and rides and the John Bunyan Trail passes by the western edge. The reserve is owned and managed by Bedford Borough Council, and cared for by the Friends of Park Wood.

The community orchard was established between 1998 and 2001. There are some 250 fruit trees, mostly apple and pear but also plum, damson, fig, cherry, medlar, mulberry, quince and walnut. Many of the varieties planted originated in Bedford and were developed in the early 1900s by the Laxton brothers. The orchard is managed to produce a flower-rich grassland habitat to encourage pollinating insects and other fauna.