Things to Do in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley
Weekend adventurers, there are many things to do in Forest of Dean and Wye Valley to satisfy your appetite for the outdoors. Within an hour or two of arriving you can whizz down mountain bike trails, paddle the river, go deep under the earth, throw yourself out of a tree, or accelerate up a muddy track. In this advertising post, part of the #deanwyebloggers initiative, I went into the woods to check it all out….
Exhilarating things to do in Forest of Dean
I am standing on a tightrope fixed to the top of some very tall trees. I am navigating my way from one giant red space hopper to another, clinging to them for dear life. My arms are tired but I’m exhilarated. I’ve already survived standing at the top of a tall Jenga style tower of crates, and crashing down to the floor. I’ve already managed to jump from a tree on the leap of faith, trying and failing to grab a suspended trapeze. And I’ve already considered whether I want to do the final challenge upside down hanging from my feet, or in a more conventional manner. It’s all happening at Forest of Dean Adventure, which was the first ever ropes course to be built on Forestry Commission land, and just one of the many things to do in the Forest of Dean.
You get the sense that however adventurous you want to be on a zipwire, tree or pile of crates, Joe Lewis, who runs this adventure challenge course, will facilitate it for you. The only thing he won’t let you do is bottle out.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” says Joe. “However you do have to try,” he grins.
Unlike other tree top adventure courses, here you do the four stations as teams, in a maximum group of six. Anyone from aged eight to 99 is welcome to take part. The oldest person that’s swung about in the trees so far is 78.
Check out this video to see what you can jump out of or into as part of your Forest of Dean activities.
River bound things to do in Forest of Dean
Forest of Dean Adventure is just one of the many providers in this part of Gloucestershire offering groups and families the chance to have fun and bond together. And when I say together, I mean it. Even our canoes move as one as we attempt the mini rapids at Symonds Yat. This part of The Wye is an easy stretch of river perfect for families with children who want to have a play in canoes or kayaks – we used to travel down here for kayak practice occasionally when the kids were small.
Today as the water levels are high and some in the group are novices, Paul Marshall from Inspire2Adventure lashes the canoes together so they effectively become a raft. We then potter down the river Wye, past swans and holidaymakers on a three hour ride from near Goodrich to Monmouth, with a whitewater thrill at Symonds Yat in the middle. Paul enthusiastically urges us to paddle and gives us tips on our techniques and location while his wife Liz tells me they regularly put together tailored packages for families of all ages including gorge scrambling, canoeing and climbing. They also offer stand-up paddle board experiences on a single paddle board or a novel mega-SUP, which can accommodate up to eight people.. You may be able to book a combined session where you can swap between board and canoe.
Muddy things to do in Forest of Dean
I don’t expect off-road driving to be a water activity. I also don’t expect it to be suitable for kids. But children aged between 14 and 17 who have handled the controls of a car can take part in a course that’s ‘better when it’s wetter.’
On an overcast Sunday morning I find myself at the bottom of a steep muddy slope in a 40 acre quarry near Coleford. As a resident of Cumbria I often find myself in this kind of situation but happily this time I am in charge of a Land Rover Discovery instead of my normal Citroen Picasso.
“First gear, you don’t need throttle, just let the vehicle do the job,” says my instructor Geraldine Hooper. “Because the tyres can grip, this vehicle is accelerating up. It’s in low range. It would stall if it was in high range,” she continues. Techniques for getting this vehicle around this terrain are counterintuitive. A lot of the time I am instructed to keep my feet firmly planted on the floor while the car advances as if by magic. This is particularly tricky on the downward slopes and when I’m about to hit the water as my brain is telling me to put my foot on the brakes. It reminds me of riding horses in Chile and Iceland, where I was in the control seat but often irrelevant.
It’s a lot of fun though, ploughing brightly coloured vehicles through huge dusty puddles, and hanging off ridges, ditches and grassy banks. “Adrenaline at five miles an hour,” is how Geraldine puts it. Geraldine is the owner of Whitecliff 4×4 Off Road Driving Centre, one of the more unusual things to do in Forest of Dean. Depending on your experience of driving her team offers a half day introductory course, or an advanced course and you can do it as a group or solo. “We don’t get many women up here, but when they do, if they’re amongst a bunch of fellas they tend to do really well,” says Geraldine.
Staying with mud for our Forest of Dean activities
If you like getting down and dirty in the quarry, it’s only a skip hop and jump to Clearwell Caves, where you can put on a boilersuit and helmet and squeeze into underground passages deep in the earth. Deep Level experiences offer you the chance to crawl and scramble 200ft underground in natural caverns and tunnels once rich in prehistoric creatures, iron ore and ochre. These include the rabbit hole and the terrifying sounding mouse hole. You can also go bat spotting and cover your face with the ochre pigment for your ‘miner’ selfie.
Pedal or potter
After that, if you still have a passion for getting dirty then blasting downhill on a mountain bike after learning some skills with Pedalabikeway is a pretty unbeatable way of spending a morning in Gloucestershire. Or for more gentle Forest of Dean activities you can explore an 11 mile traffic-free trail on mining railway tracks and forest roads in the Cannop Valley.
If you prefer to potter the woodland on foot then the Forest of Dean Sculpture trail has 17 pieces sitting alongside temporary works on 4.5 mile footpath. Meanwhile Puzzlewood provides an easy, hour-long walk where you can spot the locations from films and TV series including Star Wars and Merlin. I was captivated by this simple attraction and its spooky, atmospheric depths.
A few of my favourite things to do in Forest of Dean
My favourite moment: Puzzlewood at dawn when the only other soul around is the ghost of Morgana – her door from BBC TV’s Merlin is one of the spookier props.
My favourite food: Without a doubt the award winning wild boar pie at the Farmers Boy Inn. The night before our visit it won silver at the British Pie awards.
My favourite drink: Gin cocktail on a ‘gelato and gin’ night at Green and Jenks in Monmouth.
My favourite freefall: Crashing down from the spacehopper in the sky.
Practical Information
Accommodation
There’s loads of accommodation in the local area from luxury cabins at Forest Holidays to elegant hotels like Speech House. I stayed in renovated cottages on the Puzzlewood site. The three cottages are fully equipped for self-catering and you have full access to Puzzlewood which means you can see it free from other tourists. If you dare go down to the woods alone…
Further reading: If you are in the Gloucestershire area, Cheltenham brands itself the festival town and often has something fun and exciting planned for visitors. Check out our post on Light Up Cheltenham if you are visiting in the winter.
Disclosure Note: This advertising feature was made possible in part by the support of Wye Dean Tourism. I visited the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley for the Outdoor and Adventure Bloggers Activity Weekend and produced this post to help others discover things to do in Forest of Dean and Wye Valley, and promote the Activity Festival. The swinging from trees, Jeremy Clarkson impressions, photography and opinions expressed are all my own.
Hi Kirstie. Great article! Love your writing style 🙂 Hope to meet again (and won’t ask a million questions next time, although I love to learn from you). Do you run workshops?
Oh gosh, we live just down the road from the Forest of Dean and I LOVE it there! You can do literally anything there can’t you? I’ve swam in the river, run trail runs at night, canoed, kayaked, climbed, slept overnight in a cave, gone caving, mountain biking – oh my goodness the list is endless. Thank you for sharing one of my favourite places. I think we’re overdue a visit there actually, might have to head there over Easter!
Nat.x
Trail runs at night…now that’s a thought! You live in a beautiful part of the world…
Looks fantastic. Great piece, Kirstie!
[…] make their own stuff.” says Gareth Thomas who runs the camps. Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean is a great option for active adventure. You can enjoy some Forest Bathing, or if you want to get more active, Forest of Dean Adventure has […]
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