Planning a trip to the Forest of Dean (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, 12:14 (4171 days ago) @ stockampreddy

Hi again Donna,
it's nice to read your kind comments re your Forum experiences. It's great to hear you'll be visiting the Forest, we do hope you have a good time. Of course it depends on your driver and your itinary especially wrt visiting Zummerzet, but as a Forest exile who's lived in West London for many years may I suggest the most pleasant and easily most scenic route from London to the Forest is the M40, A40 via Oxford, much more scenic than the boring and only marginally quicker M4 motorway. The old A40 over the Cotswolds has some lovely views, instead of following it into Cheltenham veer left at Andoversford onto the A436 to drop (more nice views) down to Brockworth & Gloucester, a few minutes around the bypass then rejoin the A40 towards "your" top side of the Forest via Huntley.

We had some similar enquiries last year wrt visiting the Forest, may I suggest these prior threads will contain the most likely suggestions and hints with many links to the appropriate websites etc. You don't mention how long you intend visiting, please if possible be prepared to linger awhile. All the places you mention are readily accessible by car, a good map of the area will be wise, but please note if you visit at prime tourist holiday times then traffic will of course be higher.

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=33227
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=36291

While visiting Drybrook's "Forest Church" (Holy Trinity) on the side of Harrow Hill, please consider approaching it from Mitcheldean side and you'll drive up & over the adjacent Plump Hill. This way you can easily pull into the layby at the Point and enjoy far-reaching views out across the Severn towards Gloster and the Cotswold Hills beyond, from here it's only a few minutes drive to the Church. If you first approach the Forest from Gloster/A40 it's the natural route from Huntley.
http://satnavandcider.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/plump-hill-view-of-the-severn/
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/fod_variety_1/pages/page_79.html

Re entering the Churches, sadly very few if any still have the traditional open door policy due to thefts or vandalism. Also due to falling attendances even some of the larger Churches such as you mention are not in use all the time; sometimes one Minister shares their duties around a few Churchs & Chapels within a group parish area, so don't assume all Churches will have their own Ministers living nearby. I'm confident you'll be warmly welcomed as a visitor altho' prior planning and probably phoning the relevant Minister in advance is worthwhile to ensure you can gain access, they may also prepare the way if searching for family graves. Clearly a summer Saturday will probably be busy with Weddings, maybe try a Sunday afternoon between Services, or even a weekday when a Church may be open for the Flower Arrangers & Brass Cleaners (such as my mother) but still nice and quiet for you. A small donation to their ever-increasing upkeep costs will no doubt help but is in no way considered necessary for entry. You mention Ruardean Chapel, I'm unsure whether you mean the Parish Church of St Johns which is still very much in-use, or one of the many smaller "Independent" Chapels which the Forest was once full of but many have now closed or been converted into housing.

Most if not all Churches in current use have websites which are readily found online, most Church of England ones are on the "Church Near You" website. Clearly advance emails can only be a good idea, especially as the details may be outofdate.

The Lea Church
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/the-lea-st-john-the-baptist/
http://www.theleaparishcouncil.org.uk/home

Ruardean Church
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/ruardean-st-john-the-baptist/
http://www.visitforestofdean.co.uk/discover/About%20Us/t-1581%7C/i-4425-Ruardean_Church...

Lydbrook Church
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/lydbrook-holy-jesus/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Jesus'_Church,_Lydbrook

Holy Trinity Drybrook, aka "Forest Church"
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/drybrook-holy-trinity/
http://www.forestchurch.org.uk/

Of course you can find many more sites carrying old and new photos and so on, eg
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/gallery/churches/

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You mention your ancestors were miners but not sure exactly where, sadly many of us don't know for certain which pit our ancestors worked at due to a general lack of official records, plus in the early days there were dozens of small pits and even in recent times miners routinely walked miles to and from work. As we've discussed in the past my grandfather and forefathers were also from the Pludds area, the main pit there was the Waterloo aka "Arthur & Edward" Colliery at Lydbrook. However nowadays there's very little if anything to be seen above ground of any of these pits, even the spoil heaps have been landscaped into green beauty spots, New Fancy View being a prime example and well worth a visit as one of the above threads mentions.
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englandgloucestershirenoforestforestofdeannewfancy

Near that is the Beechenhurst Picnic site, also a "reclaimed" colliery site, just yards from the old Speech House the traditional "centre" of the Forest. This site can get very busy indeed and, in my opinion, is scenically not a patch on New Fancy. However it does have a good Tourist Visitor Centre for visitor leaflets etc plus it is handy for parking and walking the Scupture Trail.

If you want to visit a Forest mine the only one still accessible for visitors is the small drift colliery at Hopewell, between Speech House and Lydbrook.
http://www.hopewellcolliery.com/
http://www.aditnow.co.uk/album/Hopewell-Colliery-Visit/
(Yes Clearwell caves are well-worth visiting as prior threads but not a true mine in the modern sense)

Anyhow, hopefully this and the lengthy prior threads have covered most of your queries, altho please post again as & when you'd like more information.

Enjoy your visit to the Vurrest !