Access to the forest
The forest is open to the public 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. The main access point to the forest is from the public car park. Pedestrian, bicycle and horse access is also available at the works access point near the Dunnet camp site.
The forest is home to lots of interesting features. Explore the maze of paths and you never know what you may find!
Our all-abilities trail (the red trail) features even paths with hard surfaces and takes you through woodland and meadow areas.
The yellow trail is more challenging, but has seating at regular intervals every 300 – 400m. When walking the yellow trail, be aware it shares some stretches with the cycle trail, so be aware of cyclists.
Our horse trail (blue trail) is open to all, but do beware and give way to horse riders.
Our cycling technical trail is laid out in a circuit (not yet shown on the map). Look out for the purple way-marker signs. Cyclist, please give consideration to walker who may be using this trail.
Please click HERE to see a larger map of the forest trails.
For your own safety and the safety of others
- Please, do NOT enter the forest in the event of a storm or in the immediate aftermath, as there is a high risk of snapped and windthrown trees.
- Please, NEVER start a fire or light a barbecue.
- Please, NEVER climb on log piles.
- We are a working forest, so be aware of vehicles moving around the forest and avoid areas where forestry work is taking place. Never walk through warning signs, cones or barriers across paths.
Things to see and do
Look out for all of these in the forest.
- The Roundhouse – easy to find – it’s right at the start of the red trail. Look for all the animals hiding inside the roof.
- The Log Cabin – follow the red trail and look for the sign post.
- The play area – not far from the log cabin – find the little path that branches right as you approach the front of the log cabin.
- The hut circle – the remains of a neolithic (stone-age) dwelling.
- The Sculpture trail – follow the red trail and the main avenue- look out for our wooden sheep, our two wizards, the Green Man, our two owls, a squirrel, a woodpecker and our abstract art.
- The Animal Plaques – follow the red trail to find all our painted animals. There’s a list in the Roundhouse to help.
- The Dino Trail – look for the sign on the red trail. The Dino Trail will lead you to the play area.
- The giant xylophone and Fairytown – follow the red trail.
- The pirate ship – follow the main avenue almost to the top of the forest.
- The bird hide – see the map for location.
- Our five ponds – three are easy to find, but two are not so easy.
The Orienteering Course
The forest has an orienteering course with the marker poles in a variety of easy to get to and out of the way locations. Finding them is a great way of exploring the forest, even if you’re not a serious orienteerer. Choose a few and use them to brush up on your map reading skills. A detailed map of the locations of all the marker posts is here: Dunnet forest orienteering map
Dunnet Community Forest 