Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

Monkey and I were staying with my best friend in Derbyshire for a couple of days last month and I she’d suggested a couple of places we could visit.  One hit the mark immediately and off we went for a day out exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre on the outskirts of Swadlincote (half way between Burton upon Trent and Ashby de la Zouch). The Centre is situated in the National Forest and is a great place to just be outdoors.

Rosliston Forestry Centre is well sign posted, you do pay to park, but for £3 we all agreed this was a bargain as that was it for the day for us.  I would suggest arriving early, especially in busy periods as it’s very popular and by the time we were leaving in the afternoon people were struggling to find a parking space.

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

As soon as we arrived we could see a big play ground area, the perfect place for friends to get together and kids to explore.  But Monkey wanted to explore further afield.  There are a number of trails throughout the centre, so we headed off on a little adventure.

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

Monkey and Auntie A were chatting away and I followed on behind.  They have a lovely relationship and Monkey is always so relaxed in her company.  We decided to follow the Discovery Trail (1.9 miles) first so we could get an overview of the whole centre.  It was amazing how quickly we were away for the hubbub of the entrance area and in quiet countryside.  It was lovely.

Could we see a Gruffalo in the deep dark woods?

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

Working along quiet pathways we had time to talk, and just enjoy being outdoors on a lovely sunny August day.

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

We stopped for a moment or two to learn about the Derbyshire Collieries, lots of questions from Monkey along the way.

There are a couple of ponds around the site and one is large enough to have a walkway over it (sadly it was closed for renovation when we visited).

We saw lots of dragonflies on our visit, but do you think I could get one of them to sit still long enough to photograph – not a chance.  Between their reluctance to take a break and a Monkey who was on a mission to scare off every mini beast in sight, I got very few nature shots!

We may not have a Gruffalo whilst working through the deep dark woods, but we certainly found some rather interesting characters instead.

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

Lots of story telling as we went.

If we’d been more organised we would have had a picnic as there are plenty of benches dotted about.  But for those, like us, there is a lovely Hub Cafe, offering freshly made sandwiches, hot food and kids lunch boxes, all at a really good price too.

Once we’d refueled it was time to explore the wildlife and sensory gardens.  We also spotted some owls and bird of prey.  You can pay to have a hand holding session but Monkey wasn’t up for that added extra!

We’d had a really enjoyable day exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre, just a simple day out with nature all around us.  You can actually hire bikes to explore the site and I think this is something we might do in the future once Monkey has cracked the cycling and Mummy has had a refresher session.

We even got to have a rare mother and son photo, thanks to Auntie A.

Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

It’s also worth noting that the Forestry Centre is included in one of the #StayPlayExplore packages I’ve featured previously.

All in all, our kind of day out, I’m sure we’ll be back in the future too.

6 thoughts on “Exploring Rosliston Forestry Centre

  1. I love the wooden carvings. I do like to see art and things like that around forests for a bit of variety. I need to get a bike rack for the car so we can take our bikes to a forest trail. Hopefully it’ll be flatter than near home, so good for building up distance for N.

  2. What a lovely place to spend the day. I do like the addition of the wooden sculptures, always great to come across things like that on a walk. Nice that there are formal gardens as well as the woodlands x #countrykids

  3. I used to visit this area all the time years ago as it’s not far from where I grew up. I haven’t been back for a very long time now though. It’s changed so much by the look of it. Definitely somewhere I’d like to take the children-our kind of place. Lovely pic of the two of you x

  4. Definitely a bargain for a day out at just £3 to park. As you say a picnic and friends is the way forward, it is easy to see how you could spend the day here. I have the same problem capturing butterflies, they never stay put long enough to focus properly! Lovely to see the Coombe Mill hat on tour, you’ll be charging me marketing rights on that one soon! Thank you for sharing a lovely place to visit on Country Kids.

  5. This does actually remind me a bit of Alice Holt Forest Mary although Alice Holt is run by the Forestry Commission so the parking is a *lot* more expensive (£1.80 an hour!). It looks like a really lovely place to visit. 🙂 #countrykids

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