Forest of Dean: A First Visit to England's Hidden Forest
- Martin Hesp
- 4 hours ago
- 8 min read
There’s something magic, almost thrilling, about exploring a place you’ve heard about all your life, but never visited before - especially if the area concerned happens to be in the same region where you live. A magic and a thrill that came my way last week when I spent a couple of days in the Forest of Dean…
We’d been invited to experience the excellent food and accommodation at a small boutique hotel set in a handsome little village on the edge of this historic and intriguing area - and, needless to say, it took me all of a nano-second to take up the offer.
Partly because I sat there wondering why I hadn’t visited this forested area before. It’s just the other side of the older Severn Bridge and I’ve visited the neighbouring, wonderful Wye Valley many times. But the high plateau just to the east, which plays host to large areas of woodland and half-forgotten coal mines has evaded my radar.
A Historic Base at Clearwell: The Tudor Farmhouse Hotel
I’ve now put that little oversight to bed having stayed at the award-winning Tudor Farmhouse Hotel, situated in the village of Clearwell, where Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley meet. It’s a former working farm, dating back to the 13th Century, converted into 20 luxurious bedrooms and suites. The restaurant, headed-up by a hugely talented chef, serves homely yet inventive and delicious dishes sourced from the kitchen garden and suppliers within a 20 mile radius.
All well and good, then. Just my sort of place. Stylish, understated, low-key, beautifully furnished and appointed, with a truly lovely staff. And I really did enjoy the food and meeting the friendly and talented chef, Arron Christopher (see panel).
Clearwell’s steep-sided valley eventually runs down to the Wye, but if you head half-a-mile up the hill from the hotel you enter the Forest of Dean proper. Which is a funny old place, in some ways. Hilltop ex-mining villages are dotted here and there, but travel just a 100 metres or so down one of their low streets and you suddenly find yourself deep in woodland.
The Ancient Green Cathedral
There is a particular kind of quiet that can dominate proceedings in an area of ancient tree cover - and you can sense this when you slip beneath the canopy of the Forest of Dean. Not silence so much, as a deep, resonant hush - the sort of sound and sensation that makes you instinctively lower your voice, as if entering a vast, green cathedral.
Unlike the open moors found elsewhere in the West Country, this intriguing area offers something more grounded, intimate, with layers here there and everywhere running deep into history. It is a landscape where nature and human industry have intertwined over the centuries. You see it in the old stone walls, the half-hidden tracks of long-abandoned tramways, and the sudden, dramatic viewpoints that open up through the trees.
Dramatic Vistas at Symonds Yat Rock
A perfect day in the Forest is best started early, when the morning mist still hangs low in the valleys. A walk up to Symonds Yat Rock is the traditional introduction, and for good reason. Standing on that limestone crag, looking down at the great, looping horseshoe bend of the River Wye as it carves its way through the gorge, you get a sense of the scale of the grand vista that stretches into Herefordshire and Wales even if the panorama does not give you much idea of the lay of the land.
The great loops of the Wye are enough to confuse anyone. Stroll out on Forestry England’s aerial walkway to the actual Symonds Yat Rock and you’ll see the river both flowing towards you and then flowing away - walk a few hundred metres to the viewpoint by the excellent little log-cabin cafe and you see that the river, far below in another ravine, is flowing in an altogether different direction.
All very confusing unless you look at a map. But dramatic. So dramatic that, during the late 18th century, the Wye Valley became the birthplace of British tourism through what was known as the “Wye Tour”. Wealthy travellers, locked out of Europe by the Napoleonic Wars, took boat trips down the river. The dramatic, limestone cliffs of Symonds Yat offered the ultimate romantic viewpoint, epitomising the “Picturesque” art movement and establishing scenic landscape appreciation as a popular leisure activity.
The vast majority of the public land, ancient woodland, and major visitor car parks in the Forest of Dean - including the world-famous viewpoint at Symonds Yat Rock - are owned by the Crown and managed on behalf of the nation by Forestry England, and they’ve done a good job. It must be difficult catering for the number of people who want to visit such a famous viewpoint, but the organisation has managed to pull off the impossible without wrecking the glorious look of the place.
The Forest of Dean was designated as a royal hunting forest before the Norman Conquest of 1066. In 1938, it became the UK’s very first National Forest Park. Today, Forestry England looks after roughly 24,000 acres of this historic landscape. Leisure car parks, including those at Symonds Yat Rock, Beechenhurst, Mallards Pike, and the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, fall under the organisation’s jurisdiction. Parking fees collected at these sites are reinvested into the conservation, wildlife protection, and maintenance of the forest trails.
Off the Beaten Track: Cycling and Walking Trails
But the true magic of the Forest lies away from the famous vantage points. Exploring the endless woodlands is the real joy of visiting this area - and I have to say I envied those who were doing by bicycle. The Forest of Dean is a premier cycling hub, centred around the Cannop Valley. The impressive network caters to all abilities and features a fairly flat, 11-mile Family Cycle Trail along historic, disused railway lines. There are also challenging, dedicated downhill mountain bike tracks.
I plan to return with my mountain bike, but for us last week Shank’s Pony was the only choice. And walking among the towering oaks, beeches, and ancient sweet chestnuts was wonderful enough.
To glean a better understanding of the lay-of-the land we visited the New Fancy Viewpoint (once the site of the old New Fancy Colliery). A short circular walk here offers spectacular 360-degree panoramic views over the Forest of Dean’s rolling canopy. Forestry England has transformed the former coal spoil heap into a scenic lookout, featuring a unique “Geomap” sculpture that illustrates the complex geology of the forest’s coalfield.
Standing up there, high on the now wooded spoil heap, I had the same feeling I sometimes sense in corners of Dartmoor or Bodmin Moor. That this was once a place teeming with industry - an area where men and women once laboured hard for decades or centuries, bringing stuff out of the bowels of the earth. Tin, copper, coal. None of it came out easily. Back-breaking, exhausting, grinding work and tough, rough lives. Now there’s silence and birdsong.
The Tranquil Waters of Cannop Ponds
As the heat of the day intensified, a stroll around the dark, reflective waters of Cannop Ponds offered something of a respite. These two scenic lakes were originally created in the 1820s to supply water to the local ironworks. Today, they form a tranquil wetland haven within the heart of the forest. Managed by Forestry England, the ponds are renowned for their thriving birdlife - including mandarin ducks and reed warblers - and they offer cool shady banks for coarse fishing, gentle walks, and peaceful picnics under the woodland canopy.
At last, the heat of the day was overtaken by a sudden thunderstorm, so we clambered into the car and did a drive around the area, taking in the old harbour at Lydney (which I intend writing about more fully soon), Cinderford and Monmouth before returning, happy and hungry, to the lovely Tudor Farmhouse Hotel.
I liked the Forest of Dean and plan on returning, next time with a mountain-bike. It’s a quiet and understated place that somehow has a completely different atmosphere and feel to anywhere else in the West Country region.
It may have witnessed the birth of British tourism over 200 years ago, but I’d say it is now one of the least touristy pretty places in the whole of the South West.
Dining at The Tudor Farmhouse Hotel
We had such a good dinner at this wonderful, select and beautifully presented small hotel, I thought I’d have a chat with the chef Arron Christopher, whose culinary journey has brought him full circle.
Raised just minutes away from the hotel, he left the Forest of Dean at 17 to pursue a career in catering. Over the next 25 years, he climbed the ranks of the fine dining world, working in highly acclaimed, multi-Rosette and Michelin-starred kitchens, including notable stints at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons during its one-star era, and The Vineyard in Berkshire.
But eventually Arron wanted to return to his home area. A tip from his agent led him to the Tudor Farmhouse, he fell in love with the venue and the owners.
“I grew up in Berry Hill, just a few minutes away, and left when I was 17 for cheffing jobs. When we had our first child, and I moved back to the area to be closer to family, but I was doing agency work - going away for weeks at a time. Then I came here and fell in love with the place straight away. I think I’ve found my forever job.”
Arron's menu includes starters like Dorset crab with XO cracker, pickled cucumber and dashi and hay-baked heritage carrots with a carrot-top pesto and pickled baby carrots - mains like Herefordshire beef with wild garlic, smoked pomme purée and bone marrow or pan fried stone bass with a courgette salad, basil oil and confit cherry tomato. Desserts include Arron’s rhubarb mess with poached rhubarb, lemon balm and lime meringue and lemon and thyme posset, with a shortbread crumb and raspberry sorbet.
Tudor Farmhouse Hotel has been run by Hari and Colin Fell for over 20 years, and the couple renovated the property and designed the rooms themselves. After years of investment and continual improvement, the hotel was recently awarded 4 stars from the AA guide and has become one of the best loved destinations in the area. Room rates start from £165 B&B. www.tudorfarmhousehotel.co.uk / @tudorfarmhousehotel
Tasting Menu £75
Wine Pairing £40(Optional)
Chef’s special tasting menu is compiled from the very freshest produce and includes an appetiser, 5 courses followed by tea & coffee with petits fours. The menu can be enjoyed with a specially chosen flight of 5 matched wines. A cheeseboard is available at an additional cost of £15 for a board for two. We also offer a pescatarian and vegetarian tasting menu.
BBQ Scallop
Sweetcorn| Chive| Roe| Bisque
Bourcier- Martinot Vire- Clesse Recolte 2021
Isle Of Wight Tomatoes
Shiso| Bloody Mary| Ewes Curd
Gruner Veltliner, Federspiel Kollmutz, Erich Machherndl 2024
Sole
Aster| Mussels| Samphire| Pomme Vitelotte
Green KomoKabras Albarino 2024
Monmouthshire Free Range Pork
Pink Lady| Turnips| Hash
Cheveau Beaujolais Villages Or Rouge 2023
Chocolate Cremeux
Yuzu| Ginger| Matcha
Torres Floralis Moscatel Oro NV
Optional Extra (£15 for two to share):
Artisan Cheeses, Celery, Grapes, Pear and Ginger Chutney, Savoury Crackers
Tanners LBV Port £7 per 50ml glass
Coffee or tea with home-made petits fours
Flight of Wines
A 70ml serving of wine, or a 50ml serving of fortified wine, has been selected to accompany each dish. The wine recommendations have been selected based on their origin, characteristics and compatibility with the dishes.
FAQs
Is the Forest of Dean worth visiting?
Yes. The Forest of Dean combines ancient woodland, spectacular viewpoints, walking trails, cycling routes, wildlife and excellent food, making it one of England's most rewarding destinations.
What is the best viewpoint in the Forest of Dean?
Symonds Yat Rock is the best-known viewpoint, offering dramatic views over the looping River Wye and surrounding woodland.
Where should I stay in the Forest of Dean?
The Tudor Farmhouse Hotel in Clearwell offers luxury accommodation, an award-winning restaurant and an ideal base for exploring both the Forest of Dean and the Wye Valley.
Can you cycle in the Forest of Dean?
Yes. The Forest of Dean has family-friendly cycle trails, mountain bike routes and purpose-built downhill tracks managed by Forestry England.
Is the Forest of Dean good for walking?
Absolutely. Ancient woodland, lakes, panoramic viewpoints and quiet trails make it one of England's finest walking destinations.
