Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in Great Britain and is located in a region straddling the north of Suffolk and the south of Norfolk in England. It covers over

Management

Since the forest's inception, decisions affecting the forest have been taken locally at the Divisional Offices at Santon Downham. At a local level, authority rested with the Divisional or District Officers. Many of these officers were recruited from affluent, land owning families who were attracted into forestry at the time when much of agriculture was in a depressed state. Foresters were the next level in the hierarchy and were often recruited from the forestry workers and by the 1940s they were trained for two years in the Commission's Forestry Schools. Beneath them were the gangers or foremen who supervised the forestry workers. The forest workers were organised into gangs of between three and thirty, their tasks included clearing ground, planting, weeding and later brashing and thinning.

The forest is well known for its scarce breeding birds, such as woodlarks, nightjars, goshawks, crossbills, siskins as well as an introduced population of golden pheasants. All of these can be found at the Mayday recreation site. Stone curlews breed on the edges of the forest and there is often a wintering great grey shrike.

High Lodge Visitors Centre

High Lodge Visitors Centre was opened in 1992 and has a cafe, cycle hire, adventure play areas, walking trails, outdoor concerts, theatre and entertainment. It is also the home to the Go Ape high wire adventure course.

Mountain biking

thumb|Mountain biking

The forest is a popular destination for mountain biking, and has several marked trails ranging from those suitable for families, to two red trails for experienced riders. The forest also has hundreds of miles of singletrack, several black-graded bomb holes and a steeply undulating section called "The Beast" at the end of the Lime Burner Trail.

National cross-country cycling races are held in the forest. There is also a recently formed organisation called TIMBER (Thetford Improved Mountain Biking EnviRonment) which aims to work with Forestry England to improve the mountain bike trails in the forest.

Annual concerts from notable musicians including Pulp and Jools Holland are held in the forest at High Lodge. 2007 saw The Feeling, Blondie, M People, Travis, James Morrison and Van Morrison take to the stage. Keane and Westlife played at Thetford on one of their forest tour dates in the summer of 2010. Madness, Razorlight, Plan B, The Wanted, Will Young, Steps, Ed Sheeran all played concerts in the forest during summer 2012.

The forest was used as a location for the BBC series Dad's Army.

Other activities

The Roman road known as Peddars Way leads from the north Norfolk coast and reaches its end in Thetford Forest, near Knettishall. Other walking routes in the Forest connect to it. There is also a walk way through the trees called 'Go Ape'. There is a Center Parcs holiday resort at Elveden which also brings many visitors. The British Siberian Husky Racing Association hold several husky racing events in the forest each winter.

Military use

A sizeable proportion of Thetford Forest and the surrounding woodlands is reserved for military activities in an area known as Stanford Training Area, with public access forbidden.

Further reading

Public access

Four main roads bisect the forest at various points; A11, A134, A1064, A1065 and several minor roads. The forest towns of Brandon and Thetford are linked by the railway and the Little Ouse Path which approximately follows the course of the River Little Ouse.

References

  • Forestry England - Thetford Forest

<!-- Note: WGS84 lat/long, converted from OSGB36 grid ref -->