Gruffalo activity trail at Wendover Woods

Did you know The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is celebrating his 15th anniversary? The Forestry Commission are marking the anniversary with special trails in some amazing woodlands around the country. My children adore the story of The Gruffalo so we were very excited to head off to our nearest Gruffalo activity trail at Wendover Woods.

Wendover Woods is lovely with numerous walking, cycle and horse riding trails; a children’s play area; a Cafe in the Woods; toilets; fixed barbecue stands you can book in advance and Go Ape adventure course for the very adventurous.

You can buy a Gruffalo activity leaflet from the Cafe in the Woods or the Forestry Commission Chilterns Forest Office. We were given a little pack which included a Gruffalo colouring sheet, pack of crayons and leaflet which cost £2 but the trail itself is free.

The trail uses the existing Hill Top Trail which is mostly level and suitable for pushchairs. There are a number of trail panels to look out for and each one features a fun activity, such as writing your name using a stick or looking for different shaped leaves.

There were also large cut outs to look for along the way. We found Owl, Fox, Snake and the Gruffalo hidden in the trees.

There’s a large den building area which we all enjoyed. Some of the trees had been cut down so there were plenty of branches for you to build your own den. We’d never done anything like it before but we’ll definitely be back, we could have spent hours there! The children also loved climbing and walking along the fallen tree trunks.

The activity trail ends with a huge wooden sculpture of the Gruffalo.

The length of the trail is about half a mile and took us 45 minutes which included spending time in the Den Building area.

The Gruffalo activity trail at Wendover Woods is open until 30th September 2014. No booking is required.

The next activity trail is the Gruffalo Child’s Activity Trail from October 2014.

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