The Forest of Dean is a beautiful, wild, and ancient forest. Weaving through the commercial trees and the ancient reminders of the mining past are some of the friendliest and some the most exciting ‘blue’ and ‘red’ bike rides in the country. Bring your own bike or hire. You can go native in the 42 sq mile Forest’s miles of hard tracks and paths or follow some outstanding dedicated bike rides. The 20km family route is a doddle for the kids and follows way marked routes along the old miner’s tramway-tracks past rare skew-bridges and unique egg-shaped railway tunnels. There are lakes, blue bell woods, wild deer and boar, and strategic ice-cream stalls. Leave the family behind and launch a mountain bike onto the 4.5km Freeminer’s single track ‘red’ trail which thrills with rooty drops and hairpin bends. Or take-off on the Verderer’s 11km ‘blue’ cross-country route. Only the tough should tackle the aptly named downhill tracks. Smack in the centre of this wild paradise is the Pedalabikeaway Cycle Centre with cycle hire, maps, advice and a smart café to recover in.

www.pedalabikeaway.co.uk/
Cannop Valley, Forest of Dean, GLOS,
+44(0)1594860065
Google map: bit.ly/H9cM2d

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

You don’t take sandwiches when you walk in the Forest of Dean with a good food forager. You harvest your lunch. You graze your way through tangy sheep sorrel, fresh mints, crunchy hogweed and burdock leaf stalks, and snappy bistort leaves. We carefully stuffed nettles leaves into carriers for later soups. Sneaking wild strawberries from the grassy banks and purple elderberries from high hedgerows decided the recipes for puddings to come. The ground beneath our feet was revealed as a continuous carpet of lunch. We learned that locality, season, and ecology make for different treats at different times of year. The Forager guide was amazing. He knew just where to take us, what was safe to eat and how to identify it. He was full of anecdotes and folk wisdom. But best of all he knew that most plants were edible but that only some were worth the bother, and showed us which were which. We even came home with recipes.

www.visitforestofdean.co.uk/
Walks contact Christopher Robbins, at
www.robbinsherbal.co.uk
Google map: bit.ly/za1XUW

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

For an autumn walk in ancient woodland, there is nowhere to beat the glorious Forest of Dean. How do you improve an autumn walk? By combining it with amazing sculptures; think of a giant's chair made from enormous tree trunks perched on a hill or a stained glass window hung between two trees, or an 11 metre tall earthwork based on a Mayan temple. Then add the delight of searching for the amazing wildlife - deer, wild boar and maybe even a goshawk. All you need to add is a crisp autumn morning for the perfect woodland walk.

Start at Beechenhurst Lodge, maps available from the lodge. Parking is £3 per day.
www.forestofdean-sculpture.org.uk/
Google map: bit.ly/b6aU50

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends

Our day out at Puzzlewood provided one of the most magical woodland walks I have ever come across. Skip the childrens’ farm at the entrance (unless you have toddlers who like that sort of thing), to enter the forest. Within minutes you are enveloped in a weird world of ancient trees, overhanging boulders, and lush vegetation. There are paths galore, with twists and forks to provide a deep sense of mystery. This is woodland in enhanced 3D – through the rock formations you glimpse other paths, rope bridges and wooden walkways, but the maze-like formation of the woodland absorbs people; it never feels crowded. The lack of views to the outside world adds to the feeling of spookyness and there are plenty of apparently bottomless pits among the rocks to add an exciting sense of danger. There are odd flights of steps but generally the paths are not difficult; it can be slippery and do not wear your Sunday best – it is often muddy. Autumn is good for woodland but Puzzlewood is good at any time of the year. Entertainment guaranteed for all ages, toilets and small cafe at the entrance.

www.puzzlewood.net/WoodsHistory.html
Puzzlewood, PerryGrove Road, Coleford, Gloucestershire, GL16 8QB
+44 (0)1594 833 187
Google map: bit.ly/aHdj7i

I agreeI disagree

1.  
2. Send to friends