The Royal Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

The Royal Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

The Forest of Dean was designated a National Park in 1938. It includes The Wye Valley as an area of outstanding natural beauty and the River Severn which is world famous for its tidal bore. It is one of England’s few remaining ancient forests covering 27,000 acres of woodland with an estimated 20 million trees. This woodland brings a blaze of colour in the autumn and vivid colours of spring flowers, especially daffodils and bluebells. It is also home to abundant wildlife, including peregrines, buzzards, deer and wild boar.

The area has a rich and varied heritage, extending back to Roman Times and well before. It was first colonised by Palaeolithic man. Visitors can see iron mines, coalmines and many other Forest Heritage sites including Lydney Harbour which exported thousands of tons of wood, coal and iron.

The ultimate is to experience is the ever changing forest with its woodland walks and adventure activities. There is a huge range of opportunities for ornithologists, photographers, cyclists (along the 258 miles of designated walking and cycle tracks) walkers and artists.