Grizedale Forest and the Zog Trail

We have visited the Lake District many times over the years, more and more now we have children. When I first started Out and About Mummy, one of my first blog posts was about our favourite places in the Lakes to visit with the kids. You can have a read of it here.

Grizedale Forest

Over the bank holiday weekend we visited Ambleside and decided to spend the afternoon at Grizedale Forest. Grizedale Forest is a large area of woodland managed by the Forestry Commission about 30 minutes from Windermere. There’s lots of different paths and trails suitable for walkers and mountain bikers.

Facilities

There’s a large car park which is pay and display. You pay as you leave, either by cash or card but you also have the option of paying online up to 48 hours after you have left the car park.

The visitors centre, toilets, cafe and shop is all together only a short distance from the car park. There’s also a fab children’s play area close to the cafe great for all ages. Plus picnic areas too.

We popped into the visitors centre to purchase the children’s activity trail pack. Last year you may remember that we took part in The Highway Rat trail.

Zog Trail

This year it’s Zog, one of our favourite Julia Donaldson books! The activity packs are £3 and include a trail booklet, stickers, a mask, a pencil and an ‘animal reveal lens’. We headed to the start of the trail. Last year we had the pram, this year we didn’t. There are a few easy paths for prams and little legs and obviously the trail is on an easy path.

We followed the markers through the forest to find all the dragons in the story, trying to help Zog gain his golden star! The kids had a great time, they used the special lens in the pack to reveal hidden animals in the forest and took part in fun challenges along the way.

Sculpture Trails

On our walk through the forest, we passed many different sculptures as we explored. Our favourite ones are the musical trees, the kids enjoyed winding up the keys and listening to the classical music floating through the forest. There’s plenty to explore, we crossed bridges, found little houses, secret fairy dens, carved animals and much more.