Days out - Hamsterley Forest

We went to Hamsterley Forest for a few hours today to follow the Gruffalo Trail, a celebration of 15 years of The Gruffalo, which is running until 30th September at many Forestry Commission sites across the country. 

As a child, I spent many a happy day in Hamsterley Forest playing rounders and football, climbing trees, making rope swings across the river, building dens, paddling, swimming...all the things you really should be doing in your childhood. There was a period of time where we'd meet my cousins there every single Sunday for a BBQ and we'd play all afternoon leaving the adults to do crosswords and enjoy the peace on the picnic blankets...very happy memories.

It only costs £3 a car for the entire day and if the weather is good, you really can spend hours there. There are loads of bike paths and trails, long river and forest walks, an adventure playground, bike hire and a cafe. The very best news for me is, they even had 'free-from' cakes in the cafe! 

The Gruffalo trail itself wasn't particularly well signposted, there were loads of people at the end confused about where the big wooden statue was, having missed the turning right at the start of the walk. I definitely recommend paying for the map in the shop if you want to find all of the animals in the trees and the big wooden statue of the Gruffalo. Henry loved him!

Overall it's a really lovely day out, I can see us spending lots of time there in the coming years as Henry grows up, and I feel really lucky that we live so close to such a beautiful place.