Delamere redevelopment project

Delamere redevelopment project

Updated 22nd December 2023

Phase 1 - completed

Visitor centre, cafe, bike shop and car park

At Delamere Forest, the first stage of the redevelopment project saw the construction of a brand-new Visitor Centre with larger and improved toilet facilities which include a changing places facility, a Café, and a staffed Visitor Welcome Point – a place for our visitors to ask questions, learn all about Delamere Forest’s history and pick up a map or get an activity pack for our children’s activity trail.

The new car park has made it much easier for our visitors to arrive and enjoy your visit straight away, with ample of spaces and ANPR technology, you don’t pay until you’re ready to leave. Horse boxes are also welcome at the main car park and can use the Additional Parking Area for somewhere quieter to unload onto a grassed area.

Also, as part of phase 1 of the redevelopment project, we renovated our existing buildings to create a new bike hire & shop, Delamere Bike Hire, and a classroom for our learning partner, Forest Explorers. The old visitor hub and café is now the site offices for Forestry England and the Forestry Commission.

View of visitor centre building in the middle of the forest

Phase 2 - completed

Bike trail

The next phase of the redevelopment of Delamere Forest moved our focus on to the wider forest and our cycling facilities. We’ve created a new mountain bike trail, which includes 4km of new blue graded single track along the 10km family cycle trail and is being enjoyed by families and those new to mountain biking to practice and perfect their off-road cycling skills.  This new trail was completed and open for summer 2023.

Phase 3

Improved signage - scheduled for 2024

We’ve already made a number of improvements to many of our existing trails and we’ve created some new ones, too. Once all the new trails are ready, our next step will be to review and replace all of the signage across the forest, making it easier to find your way around and follow our waymarked trails. We want everyone to be able to come and enjoy Delamere Forest together, and therefore, many of the trails are shared-use, whether you’re walking, cycling, horse riding or one of the other activities that our visitors come to do, including Segway tours with Go Ape. We’re planning to highlight the best trails for running, walking and cycling, with dedicated maps for each activity.

Wellbeing and play - scheduled for 2025

We’re always looking at ways to improve and develop Delamere Forest to make it a fun and memorable day out for everyone. So as we look into the coming years, we’d love to install play equipment for children which will be close to the Visitor Centre. However before that we are developing a new visitor facility that will be accessed via our Whitefield Car Park. This will include some elements of natural play, features to encourage more people to experience the wellbeing benefits of being out in the forest, and some equipment that is sympathetic to the forest environment but can be used to enhance the exercise options for visitors. This multi-loop trail is scheduled to open in Spring 2025. 

 

During any of the current and future works that are taking place around Delamere Forest, we promise to try and keep disruption to a minimum and to keep you all safe, so please adhere to any works signage and diversions there are in place.

In addition to all of the above, we can’t forget about our amazing events programme. From our weekly parkrun to our popular year long children's activity trails, from the Forest Live outdoor concerts with A-list headliners in June and Forest Runner 5 & 10ks in the Spring, there’s plenty to see and do all year round. 

The new visitor welcome point at Delamere Forest