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Hamsterley Forest Visitor Centre


(Average user rating4 unrated 3.8/5)

About Hamsterley Forest Visitor Centre

The Visitor Centre houses displays on forest wildlife and management. There is also a small gift shop, tea room and playpark. It is also the starting point of the scenic four mile forest drive that runs through the heart of the forest giving access to the numerous picnic sites along the way. Discovery Pass available to buy which gives free parking all year plus other benfits.

How to get there:

Hamsterley Forest Visitor Centre is in Hamsterley. Hamsterley, Witton-le Wear, Wolsingham, Bishop Auckland, and Durham are the nearest towns or villages.

Turn right in Hamsterley village following the brown tourist signs, turn left in hamlet of Bedburn to enter the forest and access the forest drive and car parks (£3 toll fee).

OS Grid Reference: NZ091312
For details of public transport visit http://www.transportdirect.info

Postcode DL13 3NL (for satnav purposes)

Other places to go in Hamsterley

What's on in Hamsterley

April

  • Easter Trail
    Thursday 1 April 2010 to Sunday 18 April 2010
  • Den Building
    Saturday 10 April 2010
    Saturday 10 July 2010
    Wednesday 4 August 2010
    Tuesday 24 August 2010
  • Spring forager
    Sunday 25 April 2010
View all events
Hamsterley forest shop

Facilities:

ToiletsInformationParkingEasy AccessVisitor CentreRefreshmentsForest ShopOther Facilities
Visitor Centre

A wide range of gifts and souvenirs are on sale in the shop including pottery, woodware and novelty items.

Refreshments

Small tea room providing quality home cooked meals,cakes and preserves. Able to cater for large groups and birthday parties on request.

Other Facilities

Close by is the adventure play area which is accessible to wheelchairs and pushchairs. The centre is the starting point for most of the forest trails, including three walks and three cycle routes.

Activities

ArboretumPlay Area
Walking Yellow Walk (Bedburn)
Orange Walk (Bedburn)
Whisky Gill Walk
Spurlswood Valley Walk
Riverside Footpath (Bedburn)
Cycling Blue Cycle Trail
Red Cycle Trail
'The Loop' MTB skills area
Grove Link Cycle Trail
Black Cycle Trail
HorseRiding.gif Blue Horse Route
Brown Route (Horse)
ForestDrive.gif Toll Road
Hamsterley Forest Drive
Educational The ranger service is available to take guided educational visits for all levels and ages. Contact the visitor centre for details.
Orienteering Permanent orienteering course with 28 control points available for educational use via a booking system. Maps are on sale in the shop priced at £1-25.
Other Activities Four cycle routes catering for different ability levels, from short family trails to a severe black route for the experienced cyclist. A 20 mile trailquest course takes in the whole forest allowing keen cyclists to test their map reading skills. There is a new Down-hill mountain bike course run by local riders and the site manager with an annual membership required to use the site.

Contact:

Neil Taylor
Ranger
01388 488312
e-mail: neil.taylor@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

User Comments

Name: Martin (5 Stars)
6/Jan/2010
Reading about the forest has brought back childhood memories from our visits there in the late 1970's. Good to see the place is still popular.

Name: Anonymous (2 Stars)
4/Nov/2009
The Visitor Centre displayed a notice saying that it was open until 4PM but was closed at 11AM The Cenic Drive was clearly stated on several notives to be open until 5PM. At 3PM we came up to a locked gate making it neccessary to reverse down a wet and slippery slope and turn round in muddy grass at the bottom. There was no prior warning that the road had been closed.A very poor way to treat visitors.

Name: Ian Muckle (5 Stars)
22/Aug/2009
The cycle trails are superb, even better is finding your own trails and doing a bit of free riding with your mates. Wish people would take their litter home though and stop letting their dogs foul the trails.

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What's of interest

Hamsterley Forest Visitor Centre will be closed until 1 April 2010. The forest drive and car parks are open as normal throughout the winter from 8am to 5pm. The exception will be between 24 December and 3 January when the forest drive will be closed. The cost for a toll ticket is £3 or an annual 'Discovery Pass' can be bought which allows free parking for a year.

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