5 Ways the National Forest can help improve your Health & Wellbeing during the pandemic

The National Forest is an ideal place to catch up with friends, meet colleagues or spend a family day out, with plenty of space to stick to the current social distancing guidelines. Whether it’s a lunch time walk around the Conkers Circuit, a bike ride with friends at Hicks Lodge or family picnic at Sence Valley, the Forest is a place where everyone can enjoy the outdoors, make memories and even make new friends. If it’s safe to do so, why not volunteer or join one of the many walking groups in the Forest? Volunteering can be a rewarding way to give something back to the community or help wildlife through woodland management, joining a group can be a fun way to discover new places. Both are great ways to explore the Forest and meet like-minded people. You can find out more about our walking groups and volunteering opportunities here on our website.

Just listening to the sounds of a forest can be great for our health and wellbeing. As we couldn’t all gather at Timber festival in the National Forest this year, our festival partners Wild Rumpus created the ‘Sounds of the Forest’, an international sound map to connect people all over the globe with woodlands and forest near them. Over 650 people from more than 50 countries contributed short audio postcards from the world’s woodlands, and musicians and artists have been commissioned to respond to the sound map to produce new work that will be premiered at Timber next year. So if you can’t get out into a woodland near you, tune into the online sound map for your forest fix. And why not experience the ultimate health and wellbeing fix and join us for Timber festival 2021, where artists, writers and musicians gather and react to the Forest in exhilarating ways! Book your tickets now.