Forest of Dean

No clue with geography. Where is the forest of dean? Sounds lovely. Even better that it was a gift.

What, thank heavens for Google. I've head its lovely around that area.

It's in Gloucester near South Wales. I have been to Wales and love all the walking, caving etc so now I have seen we can go deep caving I'm like a little kid!!

Definitely symonds yat and puzzle wood! Tbh it's just a really nice place. Lots of nice walks etc

As a Gloucester resident I feel well-equipped to help you on this one! Clearwell Caves and Puzzle Wood are nice, and Symonds Yat is gorgeous, I love it down there. I would also recommend the following:

- A proper decent walk through the forest, Beechenhurst Lodge is a good starting point and the Sculpture Trail is a nice walk, about 3.5 miles long and well signposted. There are normally plenty of deer and wild boar roaming around (if you really want to see deer visit the Cyril Hart Arboretum), and watch out for sledding huskies! No really!
- You can hire bikes from Pedalabikeaway to go for a ride round the Family Trail in the forest.
- Ross-on-Wye is lovely for a wander round the town, by the river, for cream tea or a drink in a pub.
- You can go kayaking on the River Wye
- Goodrich Castle just south of Ross is a good trip out, as is Eastnor Castle near Ledbury.
- You could spend a day in Gloucester (Docks, Cathedral where bits of Harry Potter were filmes, Roman town with ruins) and Cheltenham (spa town, very pretty)
- If your trip falls at the same time as the Severn Bore (wave that comes UP the river), definitely go and see that - google it to find dates and times.
- If you like real ale, visit the Brewery Tap pub in Mitcheldean. If you like cider, try the Railway in Newnham.

If you want any more ideas, or suggestions for pubs and restaurants, then feel free to message me here or on FB ?

Thank you so much for the tips. We really want to make the most of our time there so it's been really helpful hearing first hand what's good! If there are any pub recommendations or restaurant I would be glad to hear them. We don't plan on eating out lits as there are bbq facilities in the cabin and full kitchen but would be nice to go for a pub lunch ur evening meal whilst we're there. I'm more excited about this than Marrakech in July lol

Hello!

I'm also from around the area... I pretty much grew up in Ross-on-Wye.

If you do pop in, there is a brilliant place for a spot of lunch. It's a delicatessen called Truffles and you will never enjoy a sandwich & cake so much in your life! I actually now travel 45 mins mainly for the reason for having a truffles sandwich... (I normally do something else though haha).

I totally second going to the sculpture trail. It really is a wonderful place to visit. You won't be too far away from Abergavenny which is a nice little town to have a walk around.