Pictures of the National Forest Photographs, information, facts, etc.

Contents

The pages are listed from south east to north west.

Select area to view:

• Introduction
• Alrewas area
• Needwood Forest
• Barton under Needwood
• Branston and Tatenhill
• Burton upon Trent
• Rosliston
• Swadlincote
• Albert Village/Ch. Gresley
• Foremark
• Staunton Harold
• Calke, Dimminsdale
• Moira
• Conkers
• Donisthorpe
• Oakthorpe
• Ashby, New Lount
• Sence Valley
• Snibston
• Thringstone
• Whitwick
• Thornton
• Beacon Hill

• Map of National Forest

Introduction

The National Forest covers 200 square miles stretching from Needwood in the west to Charnwood in the east, covering parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire and including the towns of Ashby de la Zouch, Burton upon Trent, Coalville and Swadlincote.

Before the National Forest was started the area was one of the least wooded parts of England. It was badly scarred by mining and there was just 6% of tree cover. Over 3 million trees have been planted so far with the target being 30 million trees across around 1/3 of the area.

Currently, (spring 2002), there is 12% tree coverage. The target is 33% coverage with a mixture of 60% broadleaf trees (such as oak, ash, willow and birch) and 40% conifer (such as corsican and scots pine.)

There has been a large amount of community involvement and the forest is generating new commercial and leisure opportunities for businesses, while providing new leisure facilities for the public.

Examples of these are woodland trails, sports facilities (such as cycling, angling and sailing), heritage centres, craft centres and educational facilities.

Author's notes

All the sites featured in this publication have been visited by myself. Notes have been made of their facilities, etc. From a outdoor persons point of view, I have tried to give an idea of the length of walks available at each site along with information on whether cyclists are welcome, (look out for the blue text showing this information), and many of the sites can be linked together to give a fuller days walking. Where this is possible, it has been indicated, with suggestions for continuations. Where campers or caravans are welcome, this is indicated by green text.

Martin Milner, author.

Further information on the National Forest is available from:

The National Forest Company
Bath Lane
Moira
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE12 6BD

Tel: 01283 551211, Fax: 0183 552844,
Email: enquiries@nationalforest.org,
Web site: www.nationalforest.org

(Note: This is an independent publication and not a product of the National Forest Company.)

Publisher: Focusplus Developments Ltd.
7 Cherry Court
Burton on Trent
Staffs.
DE14 3NJ

Email: enquiries@focusdev.co.uk