Location : Cockermouth / Keswick
/ Braithwaite / Lorton
Map - Ordnance Survey - NY 210245
Braithwaite, Keswick. CA12 5TW. Tel 017687 78469.
Whinlatter Forest visitor centre.
England's only mountain forest. Planting first started after the first world war to combat the timber shortage. Whinlatter Forest has had considerable investment in order to turn it into a recreational resource with many waymarked woodland paths.
Grisedale Pike from Whinlatter Forest. Picture by Ann Bowker
The Visitor Centre is the ideal place to start a visit. In the centre you will find an audio-visual presentation in Cumbrian dialect, a working model depicting the life of a working forest, a badger sett you can walk through, a book and gift shop and a restaurant. The shop sells a guide to the forest, showing the fourteen miles of road suitable for walkers and cyclists, as well as many other paths for walkers. There are some spectacular views across the fells and forests of Northern Lakeland.
The forest has been home to ospreys for the last few years, andthere is a special display at the centremincluding CCTV feeds from the nesting site. Over Bassenthwaite lake is the Osprey Watch viewing facility in Dodd Wood. Both are staffed by volunteers explaining about these rare birds.
Whinlatter Forest Park is home to the longest purpose-built mountain bike trail in the Lake District. The Altura Trail puts the mountain back into biking and has been built for experienced riders with good off road skills and a higher level of fitness and stamina.
It is also home to Go Ape, which offers an exciting adventure course including rope bridges, tarzan swings and zip slides up to 40 feet up in the trees.
Keswick and Derwentwater from Whinlatter Forest.
For children there is a forest playground, and junior trails that start and end at the visitor centre.
Children's play area.
A video has been produced in conjunction with the Forestry Commission, which tells the story of the Forests of the Lakes - one of this century's great Lakeland industries. Stunning wildlife footage of red squirrels and deer in their wild habitats, the foresters who protect and enhance those habitats and the craftsmen who work deep in the forest. The video is available from Striding Edge.
Osprey Sculpture outside the visitor centre.
Osprey Nest outside the visitor centre.
Part of the children's play area.
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