Matlock Moor future plans

Forestry England manages the nation’s forests to be sustainable and resilient, providing benefits for people, wildlife and the economy: nationally and locally. We constantly review the forests to see how those benefits could improve.

The Matlock Moor collection of woodlands are popular with local dog walkers and horse riders and have many great walking paths through the area. However overall, annual visitors to Farley Moor forest are low as there are currently no formal recreation routes or facilities. This provides an opportunity for improvements and greater accessibility from Matlock.

Matlock and nearby Matlock Bath are very well-established tourist destinations and are the South Eastern gateway to the Peak District National Park and nearby Bakewell and Chatsworth House.

In further developing our people, nature and economy offer, the potential for overnight accommodation within Farley Moor has been assessed and approved internally in accordance with Forestry England policy guidance.

We are working with Forest Holidays, a B Corp certified business, who are one of our long-term trusted partners, to explore options for up to 75 nature sensitive cabins. 

In the last 50 years, we have created eight sensitively-placed cabin locations in forests we care for which help to broaden experiences and extend the public benefits delivered by forests. Forest Holidays locations, which are tucked away in forests, National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty throughout Great Britain, give people the opportunity to discover, explore and reconnect with the beauty of our natural world, whilst importantly contributing a sustainable income to help support forests for years to come. 

What stage are the plans at?

The concept for overnight accommodation which is designed to fit thoughtfully within the woodland, was agreed by Forestry England's Board, and Forest Holidays has been granted an 'option to lease' from the Government's Forestry Minister, which has enabled full proposals to be explored and developed.

The early concept outlined above was published on Forestry England's website in September 2023. 

We have engaged with Derbyshire Dales Council and are now in a position to make our proposals available publicly. 

Consultation events and documents

A series of public exhibitions were held locally on 24 and 25 April 2024 to share details of our proposals at Farley Moor.

We welcomed members of the public who live locally, neighbours, councillors, local businesses, other accommodation providers, environmental and wildlife organisations. We understand that the forest means different things to everyone and it was great to hear everyone’s individual interests – this matters to us. The sessions were well attended with lots of questions and thoughts shared.

If you didn’t have the chance to visit the exhibitions or would like to read the details again, the materials will be available here from Monday 29 April.

For more information about our partnership with Forest Holidays please visit:  www.forestryengland.uk/article/our-unique-partnership-forest-holidays

Enquiries can be directed to: FuturePlans.MatlockMoor@forestryengland.uk