Parking in Forestry Commission car parks

 

Forestry Commission research has shown that six out of ten people think that woodlands are enjoyable places to visit.

We manage more than 1,500 woodlands covering over 200,000 hectares and work hard across all of them to make them attractive and interesting places to visit. Some are small and secluded while others are visited by hundreds of thousands of people, meaning that in all we host over 100 million visits a year.

We want to encourage as many people as possible, from all walks of life, to take the opportunity to visit our woodlands whether this is for recreation, exercise, education, to boost their well-being or, of course, for pure enjoyment.

To help visitors make the most of their visit, we provide a wide range of facilities. These range from car parks, visitor centres and waymarked trails to some of the country’s most challenging mountain bike trails and specially designed play areas.  We employ over 300 staff to ensure that visitors are well looked after and we carry out regular inspections to ensure people stay safe and have an enjoyable visit.  All of our trails are inspected at least three times a year and many of them weekly or monthly.

To help meet the costs of maintaining our visitor facilities and creating new exciting attractions we charge for car parking at some sites.  We are currently running a trial to see whether paying for car parking by phone may be safer and more convenient for visitors as well as reducing the amount of intrusive equipment in the woodlands.

All of our woodlands are free to access on foot apart from those at Westonbirt.