Explore Top Lodge Fineshade Wood

(Average user rating: 4.1/5)

5 Stars

As a regular dog walker in these woods, I always flick my dog poo in the undergrowth. The reason why there are no poo bins is obvious, if a dog poos in the Westfield part, do you expect that owner to walk 4 miles with a bag of dog poo in their hands. The same thing will happen as at other woods, ornaments in the trees! The reason why there are no waste bins , is that you are supposed to take your rubbish home with you. That's what it's all about. And Fineshade isn't geared for children it is for everyone to enjoy. And what is the matter with people, we only used to have a rough bit on which to park our cars. It was decidely better in those days, when every one went to Wakerley woods and you only saw a handful,of people at Fineshade....the dedicated few who didn't mind the fact that there were no WC facilities or cafe. And has any one seen the white deer lately?

2 Stars

Would have to agree with the person talking about irresponsible dog owners. It makes walking around the woods a chore! Cycling is better as you can avoid dog faeces. The children enjoyed the special tracks.

1 Star

On our visit the car park, paths and verges where littered with dog faeces. We only walked around 50 yards in to the woods (intending to take our 3 year old to the wooden playhouse) and had to dodge several piles of fouling on the path and keep a tight hold of the little one so that she did not stray on to the verges where many more foulings were. A conservative estimate of the number of foulings would be 30 within this 50 yard stretch. At this point we gave up on going any further (through a mixture of anger, disgust and safety concern) and decided to just visit the playground at the visitor centre, we picked our way back along the path only to be confronted by 2 more foulings on the short stretch between the car park and the playground. We tried to find someone from the Forestry Commission to highlight the issue to but the only person who could help was the proprietor of the caf■, who told us that this was an oft repeated complaint from visitors but that he had been told by the Forestry Commission that the policy was not to provide any dog fouling collection bins (or indeed any general litter bins) due to health and safety concerns and when challenged on this they recommended that dog owners ■take a stick and flick dog mess in to the undergrowth■. For me it beggers belief that anyone could think that in a location deliberately intended to attract children this is seen as a ■safe■ approach. That said, it is the dog owners who do not clean up their animals faeces who are to blame here■■as ever. I have raised a complaint direct to the Forestry Commission but I doubt this will lead to any improvement or changes, however having visited several other Forestry Commission sites where dog fouling and litter bins are provided I fail to see any logic in the argument that they are presenting.