Haldon Forest Park officially opens tomorrow with a special day of celebration and fun activities for all ages to enjoy.
The activity forest offers more than 20 miles of safe, off-road tracks for walking, cycling, horse riding and adventure play and is a brand new development by the Forest Commission made possible by a grant from The Big Lottery, distributed through Sport England's Active England programme.
The network of trails and new car parking and toilet facilities have been in the making for a year and on Easter Saturday hundreds of local people are expected to turn up for some trail blazing activities. Ian Lynch, project manager, said: 'This is a great day for the Forestry Commission. My team have worked hard to pull together this massive project, and with the input and support from Sport England and our other partners, we have all made sure this is a great venue for local people to come and enjoy a whole range of different activities in this beautiful forest park. 'These are their woodlands, and we want as many people as possible to come down, see what we have been up to, and enjoy the day.' The launch day coincides with the Forestry Commission's Wear your Wellies in the Woods Week, part of the Active Woods Campaign, so there will be a wealth of wellie-themed fun. The event runs from 10am-4pm and the celebrations officially kick off at 11am with a VIP Wellington boot parade. Officials from the Forestry Commission and Sport England will walk one of the walks in a myriad of crazy coloured boots kindly donated by funkyboots.com. Visitors will be encouraged to explore the trails at their leisure, but there will also be organised guided walks, cycling rides and Go-Ride training events. Thrill-seeking cyclists can enjoy the red and black downhill runs in the free ride area, but this area is restricted to experienced cyclists only and off limits to pedestrians. As well as plentiful outward bound activities on the day, the Centre for Contemporary Art in the Natural World at Haldon Forest Park will be organising some more introspective activities. You'll be able to try t'ai chi in a forest glade and watch an expert forest craftsman transform fallen branches into works of art including traditional longbows. Kids can also get creative in the Under One Sky workshop. Forest rangers will also be leading various wildlife and conservation-themed activities throughout the day. Refreshments will be available in the new Haldon Gateway visitor area which is the gateway to most forest trails. The day is supported with various activities and volunteer contributions from local clubs, groups and organisations who all use Haldon Forest Park as a venue. Jim Clarke, regional director of Sport England South West, said: 'This is one of a number of projects designed to bring activity to the people in a way that is more attractive and accessible than ever before. It is projects like this that will help us tackle the all too familiar problems of inactivity; obesity, diabetes etc and hopefully in turn they will help to create the activity epidemic the region needs if it is to become active and successful.' Haldon Forest Park is open during daylight hours and entry is free. For more information, visit http://www.haldonforestpark.org.uk">www.haldonforestpark.org.uk, or call 01392 834251.