Days Out: Alice Holt Forest, Farnham

We are really lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful part of the country. Although the actual town we live in is a bit pants, our location means we are surrounded by the best beauty spots both Surrey and Hampshire have to offer. We get the best of both worlds and some amazing walks, attractions and days out.

Today we visited Alice Holt Forest, in Farnham, Surrey. For us, it’s about a 25/30 minute drive, which is not bad at all. As we drive, we leave our town full of concrete and brick work behind, and suddenly we enter this beautiful green landscape.

Alice Holt is part of the Forestry Commission and there’s absolutely loads to do. If you have the Gruffalo augmented reality app on your phone, you can explore the Gruffalo trail and watch the character’s come to life. There’s a huge play ground with a giant wooden train that’s a hit with children of all ages; recently the forestry commission has also added the Timberline Play Trail – a trail full of fun climbing units, balance logs and wobbly bridges.

Alice Holt also features a trail called the Easy Access Trail which is designed for the less able bodied to explore and experience the woodland. It is worth mentioning here that the toilet facilities here are wonderful – they feature height adjustable changing beds, hoists and vanity units.

Alice Holt features cycle routes for people of all abilities, accessible toilets, a cafe, a visitor centre, BBQ’s for hire, a Go Ape centre, an accessible trail, a big playground and lots more.

Luke wore his pirate sandals that I mentioned in my Toddler Clothes Haul out for the very first time. I must say, he did amazingly well as I was a bit skeptical! He is a bit of a fussy one and I was wondering how he was going to get on, especially as the footpaths through Alice Holt are a bit pebbly and dusty. I shouldn’t have worried though, as he was zooming around the paths and diving into the undergrowth like an intrepid explorer.

I’ve been to Alice Holt a fair few times, however, that doesn’t mean I know the routes as well as I would like to think I do. We decided to base our walk on my memory – that turned out to be a terrible idea. The walk we wanted to go on is the Habitat Trial – an easy 0.6 mile trail with some gorgeous wooden play sculptures – but instead we found ourselves somehow walking in the opposite direction. Never the less, Luke still had a wonderful time running up and down the paths, looking for bugs, pointing out the trees, walking through the long grass and plodding through the woodland.

He really loved pointing up at the trees and trying to touch them.

This particular path we took wasn’t very shaded (unlike the one we were meant to be on!), so after a little bit of a walk, we headed back to the visitor centre, where we found some picnic tables in a, thankfully shaded, wooded area. There’s something great about having a picnic at an actual picnic table, isn’t there?

Alice Holt is a wonderful place for the whole family to visit and I would recommend a visit if you are in the Surrey/Hampshire area.

You do need to pay to park – £1.80 – 1 Hour/£3.00 – 2 Hours/£4.50 – 3 Hours/£6.00 – 4 Hours/£8.00 all day.

Most of these photos were taken by my lovely sister! I’m very grateful to her for managing to snap a few of me and Luke together as it’s a very rare photo op!