If you go down to the woods today, you’ll certainly be surprised by all that’s on offer. As part of a national campaign to promote England’s forests and woodland with Forestry Commission England, VisitEngland looks at some of the best forest experiences this month, from al fresco film screenings to fairy kingdoms and bat trails. Get exploring and enjoy the last of the summer weather!
Forest fairy tales
Findings from a recent Forestry Commission survey show that children typically start to lose their imagination at just 10 years old – significantly younger than their parents’ generation. To reignite young imaginations, forests across the country will be laying fairy trails this summer and arranging special events, sculpture making classes, picnics, crafts and story walks to engage youngsters in outdoor play. Across the country, children can discover fairy kingdoms in the forest with 3D mazes, troll bridges and enchanted trees. They can sit in a giant’s chair or a big tree stump and hear tales of princes, frogs and witches. The fairy tales programme includes:
• 22 August: Forest Fairy Trail at Wyre Forest, Worcestershire
• 22 August: Away with the Fairies, Goblins and Trolls in Sherwood Pines, Nottingham
• 24 – 26 August: Fairy Tale Activities at Bolderwood, Hampshire
Culture al fresco
Cambridge Touring Theatre will be performing Treasure Island at Alice Holt on 31 July. Pack a picnic and enjoy the action, which sees two young heroes, Jim and Ruth, find a treasure map and set sail for adventure. Adults tickets £12; children £9. Family tickets available. Before the show, the cast will be running a kids’ drama workshop – ideal for budding actors.
Strictly for grown-ups, Picnic Cinema is running a number of unique outdoor cinema experiences in the forest this summer. Grizedale Forest in Cumbria will show 28 Days Later on 10 August, Dalby Forest will be screening Bram Stoker’s Dracula on 17 August, and Apocalypse Now will be shown at Gisburn on 24 August.
Where the wild things are
England’s forests are home to some diverse wildlife. Kielder Forest is home to two nesting pairs of osprey, as well as the rare native red squirrel. Otter pawprints have recently been spotted near Fiddlers Ferry, Merseyside, while nightjars have been noted at Sherwood Forest.
Mini Beasts and Clay Critters is a workshop held at Alice Holt on 27 August that enables younger children to search for centipedes, millipedes, beetles, spiders and worms using magnifying glasses, bug pots, leaf shaking, log lifting and stone turning. You can even create a little beast of your own to take home.
To mark European bat weekend, Whinlatter Forest is offering a bat box-making workshop on 21 August, and a chance to explore this animal’s forest home. Don’t forget your torch!
Meanwhile, Delamere’s Butterfly Walk on 4 August may appeal more to adults. The route winds up to Old Pale, one of the best places in Cheshire to see wild butterflies.
Join the Forest Rangers
This summer, Camping in the Forest is offering Young Explorer experiences to introduce children to the natural forest environment. Children aged 4-11 years can investigate the forest with a knowledgable ranger, forage for treasures and join in arts and craft activities to make all sorts of weird and wonderful things with their finds. Make your own recycled paper, grow a cress forest, or build a bird box.
Suitable for little campers, Young Explorers is available at Spiers House, Christchurch and Hollands Wood sites and costs from £5 per child (one free adult place per child).
Camping in the Forest pitches cost from just £7.70 per person per night in peak season.
Forests on wheels
Go Ape Forest Adventure is bringing its adventures down from the trees and onto solid ground – from two legs to two wheels. Its Forest Segway experience is available at several Go Ape locations including, now, at the Forest of Dean. This is a unique way to tackle forest trails and explore Gloucestershire’s finest woodland.
Also new from Go Ape are Tree Top Junior courses, designed especially for your little monkeys. Budding Tarzans will see the forest from above, negotiating crossings and finishing on a high (literally) with a zip wire. Adventures for children can be found at Moors Valley near Bournemouth, Leeds Castle near Maidstone, Tilgate Park near Crawley and now Alice Holt in Surrey.
As part of VisitEngland’s More in the Forest campaign, Go Ape! Is offering 10% off for all visitors until 31 August when they use this link or quote FOREST31.
Hide away among the trees
Staying overnight in the forest needn’t be about bivouacs, bugs and sleeping bags. Forest Holidays offers a number of contemporary, glass-fronted cabins in prime Forestry Commission land. Many cabins have wood-burning stoves and private hot tubs, and all have fantastic forest views. Blackwood Forest is home to Forest Holidays’ newest cabin – Golden Oak Hideaway. For adults only, this very special one-bedroomed cabin has been designed specifically for couples. Fitted out with a sunken bath offering forest views, a hammock on the deck and a floor-to-ceiling view from the cabin’s open spaces, it’s perfect for a romantic break away. Guests can choose from a range of in-cabin spa treatments and, as an extra special treat, the ‘chef in your cabin’ experience entails having a three-course meal made for you, with cooking tips thrown in so that you can recreate the experience at home.
A weekend break for two in a romantic one-bed Golden Oak Hideaway cabin in Blackwood Forest, Hampshire, starts from £458. Forest Holidays is offering 20% off bookings for July and August when you use this link or quote CABIN.
Follow the Woodland Trail
England’s forest are packed full of intriguing walkways and trails. A Follow That Sound trail winds and weaves its way through dense Thetford Forest woodland. If you listen carefully you can hear the sounds of the forest as well as the musical tones of the multi gong, granite xylophone, windpipes, sound rollers, tongue drums and dance chimes. Once you’ve found the giant instruments you can play them to your heart’s content, drawing others into the forest following your sound. Keep following the trail to reach the bell tower, with its squeaks, whistles and jingles.
Rainforest Rescue Discovery Trails are available in several Forestry Commission sites. The organisation has teamed up with WWF and Sky, via Sky Rainforest rescue, to give visitors to its forests the chance to get up close and personal with the Amazon rainforest. Listen to amazing wildlife sounds, and learn and compare which everyday products come from the forest. Along the way, you’ll be able to take photos in an Amazon Rainforest setting, and can test your knowledge on forests in England and the Amazon.
Go forth into the forest!
For more summer holiday ideas in the forest, visit www.forestry.gov.uk/more
#weloveforests
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