Trail Centre - Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, UK

[Tubby G]

Evening folks. Considering a biking holiday to FOD next year and before I go searching booking.com or google I wondered if anyone knows of any nice self catering accommodation in the vicinity ?

Small cottages, glamping cabins, ideally in the actual forest so the trails are on the doorstep would be perfect ?

 

[Healy]

You got whitemead park in parkend. Berry hill campsite ( not been down there for years tho). Forest lodges are nice also in berryhill. Orepool in sling do rooms. Loads more that people will tell you about.
We have some mint trails at pedalaabikeaway and loads of off piste that’s easily accessible

 

[Doomanic]

We have some mint trails at pedalaabikeaway and loads of off piste that’s easily accessible

And several forumites who are happy to give (un)guided tours.

 

[Tubby G]

You got whitemead park in parkend. Berry hill campsite ( not been down there for years tho). Forest lodges are nice also in berryhill. Orepool in sling do rooms. Loads more that people will tell you about.
We have some mint trails at pedalaabikeaway and loads of off piste that’s easily accessible

Cheers Healy, I’ll take a look. One of my mates would want to hire an emtb for a few days too, presume he could do that at Pedalabikeaway, and pedal one away (see what I did there!) ?

 

[Doomanic]

Yeah, Pedals have Whyte eBikes.

 

[sunstoner]

You got whitemead park in parkend. Berry hill campsite ( not been down there for years tho). Forest lodges are nice also in berryhill. Orepool in sling do rooms. Loads more that people will tell you about.
We have some mint trails at pedalaabikeaway and loads of off piste that’s easily accessible

Stayed at Whitemead a couple of months ago. Lovely site with different accommodation types, glamping pods, villas, tents, caravans etc. But of course i didnt take the bike!.... i mean why would I?! ....doh

 

[Healy]

Went for some food the other night. It’s quite busy at the moment. Good riding around parkend too

 

[Zaskar20]

Symonds Yat is excellent, both for campsites and trails. Easy distance from Pedalbikeaway. Also plenty of other stuff to do eg. climbing and canoeing.

 

[Tubby G]

You got whitemead park in parkend. Berry hill campsite ( not been down there for years tho). Forest lodges are nice also in berryhill. Orepool in sling do rooms. Loads more that people will tell you about.
We have some mint trails at pedalaabikeaway and loads of off piste that’s easily accessible

Just been looking at Forest Lodges. Looks great but almost £2.5k for 4 nights in a tree house ?

 

[Healy]

Just been looking at Forest Lodges. Looks great but almost £2.5k for 4 nights in a tree house ?

Fair play that’s a piss take

 

[Maxijazz]

We spent a couple of nights at Whitemead last week and have to say it’s a really nice site with loads of different types of accommodation. We camped, the pitches are well defined and all come with electric hook up. The kids loved the pool.
Not cheap at £60 a night but you gotta stay somewhere and it’s less than 10mins from the trail centre.

 

[Tubby G]

Fair play that’s a piss take

It’s a very pleasant tree house, kind of like a luxury Ewok village with hot tubs, but £2.5k ! I’ve booked a small villa in Turkey in September next year including flights for half that cost!

 

[Tubby G]

We spent a couple of nights at Whitemead last week and have to say it’s a really nice site with loads of different types of accommodation. We camped, the pitches are well defined and all come with electric hook up. The kids loved the pool.
Not cheap at £60 a night but you gotta stay somewhere and it’s less than 10mins from the trail centre.

Yes I’ve just been looking at Whitemead too, looks far more reasonable. £500 for the same four nights in the log cabins, with a hot tub, and there’s cheaper options too

 

[billwarwick]

It’s a very pleasant tree house, kind of like a luxury Ewok village with hot tubs, but £2.5k ! I’ve booked a small villa in Turkey in September next year including flights for half that cost!

I’ve got an apple tree in the garden. You can live in it for 7 nights for only £2k. Includes all the apples you can eat. Always happy to help??

 

[Tubby G]

I’ve got an apple tree in the garden. You can live in it for 7 nights for only £2k. Includes all the apples you can eat. Always happy to help??

Have you got a hot tub though ? ?

 

[Doomanic]

I've got a bucket you can fill from the hot tap...

 

[billwarwick]

I've got a bucket you can fill from the hot tap...

There you go Tubby, all sorted. Cash in advance please.

 

[Doomanic]

It's quite a big bucket...

 

[GMLS]

In Parkend there is also a pub (The Fountain) with a hostel/bunkcabin

 

[Tubby G]

Booked an Air B&B in the end in Coleford, quite a nice pad at a reasonable price

 

[Healy]

I live just outside of coleford, top choice

 

[Tubby G]

Evening. Starting to think about our upcoming trip to FOD. Can someone point me in the direction of all the fun stuff on a map or are they spread out all throughout the forest ?

I’ll probably use Strava heat maps and segments to find the trails, just need to know roughly where to look, cheers

Also, is the FLYUP uplift worth booking for a day or is it an easy enough ride on an emtb ? Ta

 

[Doomanic]

The uplift really only gets you to DH trails. `The off-piste is elsewhere.

When are you going?

 

[Binhill1]

Too far away for me . I fancy Yorkshire to be honest . Basic campsite for my wee van so I can recharge the ebike battery .

 

[Tubby G]

The uplift really only gets you to DH trails. `The off-piste is elsewhere.

When are you going?

not until the end of July!

fancy a day on the dh trails whilst we’re there at least but happy to explore the fun stuff all over. We have three full days of riding morning / charge / late afternoon before some friends turn up and we have to be sociable for a couple more days! (Although we’ll still get some riding in no doubt)

we won’t go crazy trying to ride every single trail there, prefer to just session a few that we like and get better at them each time

 

[Tubby G]

not until the end of July!

fancy a day on the dh trails whilst we’re there at least but happy to explore the fun stuff all over. We have three full days of riding morning / charge / late afternoon before some friends turn up and we have to be sociable for a couple more days! (Although we’ll still get some riding in no doubt)

we won’t go crazy trying to ride every single trail there, prefer to just session a few that we like and get better at them each time

This video is quite a good example of what we’d like to ride:


The guy does go slow & steady in places, but I like that as it shows how steep & tricky some of the trails are, rather than watching someone bomb down them at lightening speed and making everything look easy

 

[Doomanic]

I ride all those trails regularly, if you want someone to show you round give me a shout.

 

[Tubby G]

I ride all those trails regularly, if you want someone to show you round give me a shout.

Cheers, might well give you a shout, we’re there Monday to Friday though and not at a weekend, but will be doing afternoon / evenings rides too

 

[Doomanic]

I could make it late afternoon/early evening one day.

 

[Jimbo Vills]

May or may not be of use mate but I find the trail forks heat map quite handy for scoping out off piste stuff