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Chopwell Woodland Park


(Average user rating5 unrated 5/5)

About Chopwell Woodland Park

Chopwell Wood really is a wood for everyone. This 360-hectare mixed woodland is a real gem, set right on the fringe of Gateshead and was designated as a Woodland Park in 1993. More recently Chopwell Wood has been recognised as a PAWS (Plantation on Ancient Woodland Site). This means it was an ancient forest but in more recent times it has been planted with modern timber crops. Most of the ancient trees, predominantly oak, were felled in the 17th and 18th century for ship and bridge building the remnants of these still survive on the steep crags above the river Derwent. The Forestry Commission now has a national policy that means that now only native trees will be planted on PAWS sites.

How to get there:

High Spen, Chopwell, Rowlands Gill, Gateshead, and Newcastle are the nearest towns or villages.

Chopwell Woodland Park is located in historic Derwent Valley, 11 miles (17km) from Gateshead and Newcastle City Centre.

By Public Transport

Buses operated by ‘Go Ahead Northeast’ connect the wood with Newcastle City Centre, Newcastle Central Station and the Metrocentre (service numbers 47 and 47A). Visitors from Consett can connect with this bus at Rowlands Gill.

The bus stop for these services is on Hookergate Lane in High Spen, located at the entrance to the road access into the wood. From the bus stop, the trailhead in the main car park is a ten-minute walk along both tarmac road (100 metres) and waymarked forest trail (700 metres).

For further Bus Timetable information use the simplygo link on the right.

By Car

The wood is not signposted until the entrance in the village of High Spen (B6315). Access to the B6315 from the south is off the A694 at Rowlands Gill or from the north at the A695 at Greenside.

OS Grid Reference: NZ137586
For details of public transport visit http://www.transportdirect.info

Start your visit from:

Chopwell Wood Main Car Park

What's on in Chopwell Woodland Park

March

April

View all events
The Kestrel a sculpture by David Gross

Facilities:

InformationParkingEasy AccessOther Facilities

Activities:

WalkingCyclingHorse RidingEducationalWildlife ActivitiesOrienteeringArtsPicnicView Point

Contact:

Leanne Shipley
Recreation Ranger Chopwell
01207 542231
e-mail: leanne.shipley@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

User Comments

Name: shannon duke (5 Stars)
21/Jan/2010
absoulutly brill, anyone can come at anytime of the week and there is plenty of activitys to do!!
Name: Horse rider (5 Stars)
5/Nov/2009
Fabulous wood for horse riding especially if you live locally, beautiful
Name: georgina (5 Stars)
14/Oct/2009
very lovely place to go and site see with all of the historic things you can go and see its very good to keep people happy and active
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What's of interest

Chopwell Wood Horse Riding Association, working in partnership with the Forestry Commission, run events throughout the year. The North East Free Ride Association are a cycling group that encourage co-operation between different forest users and meet regularly to build official mountain bike facilities. The ‘Friends Of Chopwell Wood’ were formed in 1991 by volunteers to provide additional financial and practical support for conservation, recreation and education projects within the Wood including the installation of eleven imaginative sculptures. FoCW also carry out regular practical conservation tasks.

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