Bedgebury Pinetum

I remember when my friend first told me about Bedgebury having 10 adventure play areas on a walk through the woods, I knew we had to check it out! But there was much more to Bedgebury and then the Gruffalo and his friends came to the party!

So it is free to enter the Pinetum and the woods but it's £10 to park Mon-Friday and £12 at weekends. So the more seats in your car/mini van the more value for money but it's worth it anyway! So the question is just where to start?...

If you need some advice or a map head down to the visitor centre by the lake, you can get a free map of the Pinetum or pay for a map of the woods or just take a quick photo of the map on the wall outside which pin points all the play areas. This is also the location of the only toilets so good to stop before you venture further. Toilets are nice and clean with baby change, disabled and showers for those hard core bikers.

So for those with babies, preschoolers and under 12s the adventure play areas in the woods are your highlight but to be fair theres plenty of teens and adults on the stand up log swings, the adventure trail and the Spiders webs too! First stop is the ship wreck adventure play surrounded by sand, with slides, baby swings and don't forget to get a pic of the kids in the pirates throne! 

There are some picnic benches around the playground and also a small undercover pinic area should you need to get out of the sun or the rain. The play village area is great for the littlies, it has wooden platforms,  mini swings, musical chimes and a slide.

Take the woodchip path through the woods up to the log swing. These are great, definitely a team work activity and have seen plenty of adults on this!

I've done the next few play areas in random orders, we particularly love the ants nest! Proper climbing wall stylee on the outside for the bigger kids or little ones if you climb behind. But you can also go up inside from underneath, the hole in the middle has footholds for the shorter kids to climb up. 

There's the tree house, this is quite challenging so good for the older ones and the tree Stump is good fun with tunnels for the little ones to crawl through.

Then theirs the Butterfly, the Adventure Trail, the Dragonfly which will keep them busy...

...then jungle drums and last but not least the Spiders Web!!

Oh but waiting there's loads more to do... if you love a family bike ride or your kids have outgrown the whole play park thing then explore the rest of the woods! You can take your own bikes or hire bikes, kids seats and trailers from Quench Cycles located next to the car park. There are various trails through the woods so ask advice for what's best for your group but the 4.5 or 9km blue trail is suitable for families . If your hardcore or a little accident prone don't worry there are showers down at the visitor centre to wash the mud off! To get a different view point of the woods there is also the Bedgebury Go Ape course which you can incorporate into your day for the usual fees, and can be viewed from below around the adventure play trail.

Not finished yet, there's still the Pinetum to go!! So heading back to the visitor centre... refurbishment was completed last year making the café larger and providing more inside seating. They've also landscaped out the front adding lots more picnic benches by the lake. The cafe provides various sandwiches, hot food, cakes, ice creams, prices are reasonable but not cheap so I would recommend take a picnic but stop for tea & cake or ice cream. If your sitting up by the café you will be asked not to feed the ducks as they've recently become rather more agressive in their demands for food!

So first the Forestry Commision had the Gruffalo trail, then the Gruffalo's Child trail but this year we have the Stick man trail! You can purchase the pack from the visitor centre for £3, it includes the trail sheet with questions, a pencil, extra paper and crayon for a brass/picture rubbing and some pipe cleaners for making your own stick man near the end. Suggest you look out for stickman shaped sticks on way but don't tell the kids.

You only really need one pack unless your kids really can't share, my 4 year old held the 'map' (trail sheet) and answered the questions whilst the 8 year old read the clues and did the writing. You follow the stickman signs to each of the numbered boards which have a question/task to complete on the sheet but also information and challenges to do.

Also look out for extra character picture cards that you tick off as you find them. It is a great way to see the Pinetum and get those less inclined to walk moving. The normal route around the Pinetum is accessible but there is a section of the stickman trail that is more off road.

At the end you find the enormous Stickman! Gruffalo and Gruffalo's Child are also still in the Pinetum (but you miss them on the stickman trail). If those with little legs have over done it on the adventure play the nice people in the visitor centre will let you in on the secret location and you can go straight to them,  not far to walk from the entrance.

At Bedgebury they also have the Gruffalo Orienteering trail which is £1.50, this consists of a basic map and the aim is to find each of the Gruffalo markers using the map. Recommended for under 8s. Obviously there is also all the usual activities in the woods, tree climbing at your risk of course, scavenger hunts and stick wands! Dogs are also welcome but need to be on a lead in the Pinetum,  play areas and visitor centre. For further information and events visit the website Bedgebury or follow on Facebook

Best For: Everyone
Recommend: Picnic, Bikes
Time: 3-5hrs