Sherwood Pines Forest Park

Sherwood Pines is a fantastic and inspiring place to experience the outdoors. There is something for everyone all year round, from walking and family cycling to mountain biking, Go Ape and adventure play.

Sherwood Bushcraft

Bushcraft, traditional woodland skills and team building activities - great for youth groups, schools, corporate team building, birthday parties and private functions.

Shelterbuilding - Den building at Dalby Forest. Create your own survival shelter out of forest materials – can you make it weatherproof? This activity is great for team work.

Fire lighting - Ranger demonstrating fire making using a fire steel during a bushcraft event. Learn safe fire lighting techniques. Try lighting a variety of tinders and learn how to select good kindling. This session could involve using fire-steels, traditional flints and steels or the bow-drill to light your fire.

Water purifying - Learn how to filter and purify water to make it safe to drink. Using just natural materials found in the forest learn how to remove particles and harmful bacteria from your water.

Wood whittling - Learn how to use a knife safely and try a variety of safe cutting techniques. Start with a tent peg before moving on to more technical greenwood working projects.

Willow basket weaving - Learn the timeless art of basket weaving on this full day session. Learn a variety of weaving techniques to create your own round basket to take home.

Tool use - A variety of hand tools can be used during a session including loppers, bow saws, pruning saws, froes and knives. Learn how to safely use these tools for a variety of jobs such as thinning, pruning or coppicing small trees to help us improve our forest habitat.

Campfire cooking

Bushcraft campfire cooking pot - Prepare and cook your snacks or meal over the campfire. Or use our wood-fired, clay oven – perfect for delicious pizzas!

Green wood working - Learn traditional green-wood working techniques. Using shave horse, draw knife, froe, knife and gouge you can create spoons, spatulas, coat pegs and small bowls.

Traditional woodland crafts - Have a go at a variety of crafts – make glue form pine resin, artist’s charcoal from willow, natural cordage, knife sheaths or pendants.

Walking Trails

Explore the forest on one of our waymarked walking trails.

Dragonfly Trail is a surfaced trail - This walk takes in some of the oldest trees in the forest with seating and a picnic bench along the way and at the Dragonfly Pond.

Nightjar Trail - This unsurfaced trail follows the Dragonfly Trail to begin with and then takes you through a variety of the habitats within the forest, ranging from mature pine to lowland heathland.

Cycling Trails

Whether you've just bought your first bike, or you're happy shredding through rock gardens, Sherwood Pines offers a fantastic opportunity for natural cycling. From a fun day out with the kids on the Green Family Trail, to adventurous MTB routes around the outer limits of the forest.

Young cyclists and family trails - Learn to ride your bike at Sherwood Pines! Cycling in the forest is one of the safest and most relaxing ways to pick up confidence and develop cycling skills.

The Green graded Family Cycle Route offers a 3 mile loop, starting at the Visitors Centre and looping through the forest. At a leisurely pace, this will take the family an hour, and there are picnic benches dotted around the trail for when you need a break!

Another fantastic family ride is the Blue Adventure Cycle Trail. Weather proof and family friendly, this trail accommodates those looking to spend a morning or afternoon meandering through the forest at a leisurely pace.

Mountain Biking - Sherwood Pines provides an almost unlimited supply of technical offroad trails for the more advanced cyclist. We also have some fantastic marked trails which will leave you grinning ear to ear...

The Blue Skills Loop boasts a variety of technical trail features and a mini loop of single track, making it a great place to practice and improve your skills.

Another Red option is The Kitchener Trail which flows through the forest linking broadleaf and pine woodland on 13km of pure singletrack.

The Bike Park offers a more technical challenge, including a DH section and a jump line.

Facilities, events, and things to look out for

Print a map before you go - available to download here. Drop by the café for a post-ride coffee and food. The café is attached can be found at the Visitor Centre. Shop and hire bikes from our excellent local bike shop Sherwood Pines Cycles which you'll find in the main Visitor Centre area, near Go Ape. We're currently liaising with British Cycling and FoxCycleTots to deliver cycling events for you to enjoy.

Orienteering Course

Orienteering is an exciting and challenging outdoor sport that exercises both mind and body. The aim is to navigate between control points marked on an orienteering map. As a competitive sport the challenge is to complete the course in the quickest time choosing your own best route. As a recreational activity it does not matter how young, old or fit you are, as you can run or walk making progress at your own pace on the courses planned to suit you.

Gruffalo Orienteering - Kids will love the excitement of using a simple map to try to find twelve Gruffalo markers.

Family Orienteering - Click to download or Family Orienteering Map.

Intermediate Course – Coming soon.

Go to the Sherwood Pines Forest Park website for more...