Things to do in the Forest of Dean

Come to the Forest of Dean to enjoy nature, to have fun, to float and to relax.

Thousands of people visit the Forest of Dean each year to rest, relax, and recharge amid the splendour and beauty of nature.

Opportunities for exploration, fun and adventure abound.

Here you can share in the woodland habitat of a whole host of wildlife, including deer and wild boar.

Things to do in the Forest of Dean

Thousands of people visit the Forest of Dean each year to rest, relax, and recharge amid the splendour and beauty of nature.

Opportunities for exploration, fun and adventure abound.

Here you can share in the woodland habitat of a whole host of wildlife, including deer and wild boar.

Bream Heritage Walk

Walking in the Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean is a fantastic place for walking. Don your boots and take a stroll through the verdant woods. Visit Mallards Pike and walk around the lake. Check out the sculpture trail at Beechenhurst. Spot some of the local wildlife if you’re lucky.

We love walking in the forest, and a peaceful walk in nature can be the perfect activity after a float. So we were delighted to discover that the Foresters’ Forest Partnership have created a new waymarked walk which goes right past the float centre! This walk could be enjoyed before or after your float, or even while your friend floats.

There’s lots of scope to do just part of the route, and they’ve created a lovely downloadable map and other resources.  Discover the heritage and beautiful landscape of our lovely area… find out more on the Bream Heritage Walk website.

Outdoor activities in the Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley is a giant natural playground with something for everyone.

Paddle down the river in a canoe.  Go for a run among the trees on the huge network of trails.  Tear it up on your mountain bike on some awesome purpose built single track.  Scale some of the many legendary climbing routes in the area.  Walk your dog, or if you are feeling energetic, get involved in one of the cani-cross races. 

For the lover of outdoor activities there are so many things to do in the Forest of Dean!

Relax in nature

The forest itself is a therapeutic environment. Go for a walk among the trees, listen to the birds, take a little time to recharge your batteries.

Whether you get active in your enjoyment first, or go directly to laid-back appreciation, floatation offers the ultimate in relaxation.  When you emerge from your float, your reawakened senses are filled with the wonders of nature.  This is the perfect location for a floatation centre.

A unique landscape

The Forest of Dean is a unique landscape, with a unique past.  It is tucked away in a beautiful corner of Gloucestershire, not quite Wales, and some might say not quite England!  Close to the city of Gloucester and easily accessible from the M5 and M50, we are an hour from Bristol, an hour from Birmingham, and less than three hours from London.

Nestled between the River Wye and the River Severn, in many ways it is a place out of time, with an identity all of its own.

A working history

The Forest of Dean has a geological abundance of iron-bearing rocks and seams of coal.  As a result, this made the Forest a focus of iron-working for thousands of years, and a crucible of the industrial revolution.

Generations of people have descended into the silence and dark of the earth to bring up treasures from the deep, and in the light of the furnace, transmute them into iron.  Iron has been a potent agent of transformation in our civilisation, a technology which must have seemed magical to those who first encountered iron tools but didn’t know the secrets of how they were made.

We recommend a visit to Hopewell Colliery (when mine tours are running) or Clearwell Caves for an insight into the fascinating mining history, as just two of the fantastic things to do in the Forest of Dean.

Parallels with floatation

Floating gives us the opportunity for our own sojourn in silence and darkness.  It can also be a means of bringing back treasures from our own depths.  We emerge from the experience enriched.

Floatation is a technology which you can use to make powerful changes in your world, not least the discovery of deep relaxation.  The float environment offers a tool for self-knowledge.  While everyone’s experience is unique, many floaters will tell you it can be a magical experience.

The Forest is a place of refuge and respite from the cares of the world

 

Get away from it all

The forest is a symbol which speaks to many on a deep level.  It can be our ancestral home.  Certainly a place of refuge and respite from the cares of the world.  Maybe a place of safety and freedom from the strictures of convention and the shackles of society.  Or perhaps a departure from complexity and alienation, and a return to the simplicities of nature and belonging.

Floatation is the distillation of this.

Floating can provide a comfort not felt since the womb.  The pod is a place you can truly rest every muscle.  This is a time which is yours alone, away from the outside world.  A liberation into the freedom of your imagination.  Beyond relaxation.

Switch off from the constant demands upon your attention of smart phones and the always-on culture.

Let your awareness return to the simplicity of your body and mind,

here and now,

adrift in blissful quiet,

weightless in the peace and calm of your float.

You are home at last.

Check out the ‘Visit Dean Wye’ website

To find out more about this amazing area, including how to get here, where to stay, where to eat, and the many wonderful things to do in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley, check out: www.visitdeanwye.co.uk/

(who kindly provided some of the beautiful images you see here)

Forest of Dean and Wye Valley Tourism association

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