The two tarns were originally surrounded by heather-clad fells, the birch and oak coppice woodland was planted in the latter half of the 19th century to provide wood for the mill and for charcoal burning. The picturesque tarn is now fringed with scots pines and larches and has small rocky headlands.
Along with the surrounding woodland, it was purchased in 1973 by the Lake District Planning Board, to allow public access. A pleasant woodland footpath ascends to the Tarns from Finsthwaite village.