Surrey dog walks - Alice Holt Woodland Park

Certain things in life make my hackles rise; and one of my pet hates at the moment is the amount of public money that you see wasted, day in day out, on worthless projects. Not so at Alice Holt Woodland Park however. This vast area of woodland, managed by the Forestry Commission of England, is definitely public money well spent.

Apparently, over six million Christmas trees are bought each year and some 100,000 of these will be from Forestry Commission managed forests, where for each tree harvested at least another one is planted. Alice Holt sells 4,000 of these sustainably grown Christmas trees every year from Sunday December 2 onwards until they are all gone.

Walkies in the woods...

The Commission has also recently launched a ‘Walkies in the Woods’ campaign to encourage dog owners to take advantage of the healthy living opportunities offered by woodlands. To explore the woods and find out more, I had roped in the help of one of my dog walking friends, Lyn, and her Springer, Dennis. Alice Holt is found south of Farnham on the A325 – we approached it by turning left at The Halfway House pub, and the entrance is on the right after about 100 meters.

Driving into the forest we stopped in the first parking area on the right hand side. A short walk away from the car park is the information centre, where we picked up a map of the park and information on what we could expect to see. We decided to follow the one-and-a half mile Easy Access Discovery trail to allow for plenty of talking! All the routes are well marked with wooden trail markers so even a couple of ‘blondes’ could find their way round.

Roasting chestnuts...

The trail, with red boot prints on the wooden marker posts, starts from the car park and heads south. The path is good solid gravel, so suitable for all sorts of activities. The dogs, after their car journey, were delighted to be free and set off at a great pace along the route. As the park is enclosed, they are quite safe, and as always when we go to a strange walk, they stuck quite close to us.

The trail takes you through the deciduous woodland to start with and the trees were looking magnificent in their autumn colour. Sweet chestnut trees were scattering their very prickly cases all over the path; much to the dogs’ dismay as they were not very comfortable for paws. Needless to say, we spent quite some time collecting the nuts in order to roast them on an open fire when we got home.

Continuing along the trail, the trees change from deciduous to conifers and in doing so the whole nature of the environment changed: huge, tall, straight and imposing, the conifers were lined up like an army waiting to strike.

Indeed, the woodlands have been used as a location for many film companies for epics such as Gladiator.
Coming out of the woods, at the top of a slight rise, we were rewarded with a view of the rolling hills south of the park.

Following the path down into the conifers again, the dogs had a wonderful time chasing squirrels and sniffing out the different smells. Dennis, whose nickname is ‘the badger’ – as he spends most of his time digging holes – was so busy chasing the scent that he didn’t dig a single hole.

The trail then takes you back to the deciduous woodland and using the information leaflet we managed to identify birch, oak and rowan trees.

Suddenly, we came upon a group of students marching through the woods in front of us. They were being led by a forest ranger and had been learning how to build a den out of the wood and logs scattered across the forest floor. Get them young and they will hopefully learn to respect the countryside as they grow older.

A coffee and panini...

The discovery trail is a circular route, so eventually we made our way back to the car park with three, very tired and hot, dogs. Walking past the car, we made our way up to the Forest Food café where there was water for the dogs and a hot coffee and panini for us.

And the verdict? I will definitely be back as there is simply so much to see and do at Alice Holt and I enjoy seeing my tax being well spent! For the family, it is a definite must over the festive break.

The Dog Facts

Things you need to know

Going: Suitable for all ages and abilities
Ground: Could get muddy if wet, but you can stay on the made up routes
Contact: www.forestry.gov.uk/aliceholt
Parking: Pay & display
Special interest: Trees and woodlands
Disabled access: Yes
Where to eat: The Royal Oak Inn, Staffhurst Wood, which is a five minute drive south. The pub allows dogs and serves a great selection of homemade freshly cooked food, with meat from the local farm. Tel: 01883 722207.

---