Sherwood Pines marks major improvements designed to welcome more people to the nation's forests
Forestry England has hosted a special celebration event at Sherwood Pines to showcase a wide range of improvements made across the site over the past three years.
The developments include a new changing places toilet, multiple new inclusive play areas, improvements to walking and wheeling trails, additional accessible seating, and the highly anticipated pedal and play trail.
Together, these initiatives reflect a shared focus on inclusion and accessibility, helping to ensure that more people feel welcome and able to enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of spending time outside in nature.
The event, which took place on April 22, brought together partners, stakeholders and local representatives to see the new facilities first‑hand and learn more about how they were developed and delivered with the support of Forestry England’s Access for All programme, and supported via targeted funding from the Government.
Guests heard about the positive impact these improvements are already having for visitors and local communities.
A guided tour of the site highlighted the range of new features, while local children took part in a cycle coaching session on the pedal and play trail, demonstrating how the trail is helping novice cyclists build confidence and skills in a safe but fun environment.
Sarah Walker, programme manager at Forestry England said: “It was great to be able to invite some of the young people who contributed to our community consultations back to enjoy these new facilities.
“We asked families with a range of different access requirements what would help make our new play areas places that they could enjoy, and the results are proving popular with all our visitors.”
Jess Tullburg, visitor experience manager at Sherwood Pines, added: “We have been getting great feedback on our inclusive play areas, but the new pedal and play trail that opened a few weeks ago has become the jewel in our crown.
“Being able to provide such a facility for families visiting Sherwood Pines makes us really proud and as we see well over half a million visitors each year, it is definitely being well used.”
The celebration marked an important milestone for Sherwood Pines, showing how Forestry England is putting its ongoing commitment to removing barriers into practice and enabling more people to connect with nature in ways that suit them.
The next steps for the Sherwood Pines team are to improve the pre-arrival information on the website and to introduce mobility scooters as a hireable option.
These improvements all form part of a wider ambition to create forests that are welcoming, accessible and enjoyable for all, now and for future generations.