days out

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.

Gruffalo Activity Trail - the gingerbread house

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.

Gruffalo activity trail - the gingerbread house

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.

Gruffalo trail panel - the gingerbread house

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.

den building wendover woods - the gingerbread house

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

the gruffalo sculpture - the gingerbread house

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.

Linking up with Country Kids

38 Comments

  • Reply
    Keri-Anne
    June 9, 2014 at 10:43 am

    My girls would completely love this. What a great place! Glad you had a lovely time x

  • Reply
    You Baby Me Mummy
    June 9, 2014 at 10:49 am

    This would be such a good day out. Glad you had a fab day x

  • Reply
    Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
    June 9, 2014 at 10:57 am

    Wow! Want to go! We love the Gruffalo in this house 🙂 I have just had a look and there is one near us and we are holiday there in August! Thank you for sharing, can’t wait to do the trail x

  • Reply
    Angela Spicer
    June 9, 2014 at 11:30 am

    We did this locally to us a couple of years ago.

  • Reply
    Louisa
    June 9, 2014 at 11:31 am

    Thanks for this post, I’ve just checked my local forestry commission website and they have a similar event in August that we will definitely be attending 🙂

  • Reply
    Jen aka The Mad House
    June 9, 2014 at 12:05 pm

    We are off to Daulby at the end of the month and really looking forward to this

  • Reply
    Kizzy
    June 9, 2014 at 12:16 pm

    We read this again last night. I want to visit one of these events this summer.

  • Reply
    Victoria Mylittlel
    June 9, 2014 at 3:16 pm

    thats an awesome activity for kids, maybe one day we will do something similar with my little one

  • Reply
    Lisa Prince (@BEAUTY_IIAO)
    June 9, 2014 at 3:16 pm

    seen so many people going here lately and i wanna go, its too far though x

  • Reply
    Adele @ Circus Queen
    June 9, 2014 at 3:56 pm

    I got so excited when I first heard about this but then I kind of forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder. It looks like great fun.

  • Reply
    LearnerMother
    June 9, 2014 at 4:16 pm

    This looks lovely, my 4 year old would be entranced, off to find out where my nearest Gruffalo trail is!

  • Reply
    Michelle
    June 9, 2014 at 6:42 pm

    I love how the Gruffalo is springing up everywhere! We have a trail at a park near us!

  • Reply
    Mummy of Two
    June 9, 2014 at 7:05 pm

    I have seen quite a few people post about this recently. It really does look like an amazing day out! Wish we were closer.

  • Reply
    hannah staveley
    June 9, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    Oh wow ,did not even know they had one its amazing .x

  • Reply
    Fritha Strickland
    June 9, 2014 at 7:40 pm

    Wilf would absolutely love this! Sounds like you had a fab time x

  • Reply
    MrsShilts
    June 9, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    We’ve been reading the Gruffalo and would have loved to get to an event but Little Mr is still a little bit too young for meeting the main man in a forest yet..Maybe next year if they stay a bit longer

  • Reply
    VaiChin @Rambling Through Parenthood
    June 9, 2014 at 8:49 pm

    This looks like a lot of fun. Must check when the next one runs nearer to where we are.

    • Reply
      jenny
      June 9, 2014 at 8:56 pm

      My two loved it, can’t wait to go back again soon.

  • Reply
    Cass@frugalfamily
    June 9, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    How cute is that Gruffalo statue – my two would have loved this a few years ago x x

  • Reply
    Jane @ northernmum
    June 9, 2014 at 10:18 pm

    Have heard a lot about this, it looks fab x

  • Reply
    Zena's Suitcase
    June 9, 2014 at 10:37 pm

    This sounds amazing. The Gruffalo is a favourite of ours, and to link in with nature in this way is great. Wonder if there is something like this going on in the East Midlands

  • Reply
    Foz
    June 9, 2014 at 10:43 pm

    oooh that looks fab. My girls would love it!

  • Reply
    Gruffalo Bento Box | the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    June 10, 2014 at 8:10 am

    […] ← Gruffalo activity trail at Wendover Woods June 10, 2014 · 8:09 am ↓ Jump to Comments […]

  • Reply
    Shell Louise
    June 10, 2014 at 11:21 pm

    My girls (and me!) would absolutely love this. I’ve just Googled it and there’s one close enough for us to visit in the summer. Thanks for sharing 🙂

  • Reply
    Merlinda Little (@pixiedusk)
    June 11, 2014 at 8:27 am

    This is our dream walk! Someday we will visit this forest and see him, the Grufallo =) #letkidsbekids

  • Reply
    wendy
    June 11, 2014 at 11:27 am

    looks a great day out. we love the Grufalo x

  • Reply
    Karen Bell
    June 11, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    Love a good Gruffalo trail. It is such a good way to get the kids out in the forest having fun. Looks like you all enjoyed it.
    Thanks for linking #LetKidsbeKids

  • Reply
    Nicola
    June 11, 2014 at 7:58 pm

    This looks an amazing spot to visit! We all love this book in our house (especially me!)

  • Reply
    agatapokutycka
    June 11, 2014 at 8:21 pm

    This looks like a real fun.
    I would love to go myself… I might take kids with me 😉

  • Reply
    Sarah Bailey
    June 12, 2014 at 10:19 am

    Oh my I want to go! What a great sounding trail! x

  • Reply
    Clare @ Super Mommy Club
    June 13, 2014 at 6:46 am

    Oh this looks like a wonderful trail – I think we have one near us in Bristol, I should really look into it a bit more!

  • Reply
    Gruffalo Story Stones | the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    June 15, 2014 at 1:50 pm

    […] We recently spent a lovely time in the deep dark wood hunting for the Gruffalo and friends on a Gruffalo activity trail. My children also enjoyed a fun Gruffalo-themed bento box for their lunch. I thought I would keep […]

  • Reply
    Ali Simpson
    June 16, 2014 at 9:27 pm

    wow we have one of these too, my kiddies were over the moon to see the Gruffalo. Such a lovely idea. x

  • Reply
    Stick Man trail at Wendover Woods - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    January 5, 2016 at 8:10 am

    […] trails. There have been a couple of trails based on books and so far we’ve visited the Gruffalo Activity Trail, The Gruffalo’s Child Activity Trail and the Superworm Activity […]

  • Reply
    Gruffalo Bento Box - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    September 2, 2016 at 11:16 pm

    […] I told you how much fun we had at the Gruffalo Activity Trail at Wendover Woods. After running about in the woods, building dens, climbing trees and hunting for […]

  • Reply
    Zog and the Flying Doctors {a picture book review} - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    October 6, 2016 at 10:12 pm

    […] Gruffalo activity trail […]

  • Reply
    Free Highway Rat activity trail {at Haldon Forest} - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    December 29, 2017 at 7:49 pm

    […] Highway Rat trail was free to take part but when we’ve taken part in previous trails (for the Gruffalo, Gruffalo’s Child, Superworm and Stick Man) we’ve found the activity packs really do […]

  • Leave a Reply