New Forest Office update

The ball is well and truly rolling with the new Dunster estate forest office! Wedgewood Buildings, our contractors have been on site for a couple of months now doing the ground works, but in the last week or so the buidling has started to shoot up. This photo was taken yesterday, and I suspect by the end of the week that the roof will be on and possibly even tiled- very rapid.

illegal 4x4s

4x4s and motorbikes driving where they are not authorised is a real menace to us, and legitimate users of the forest who are looking to enjoy the tranquility and beauty of the forest- as well as doing damage to sensitive habitats and access routes and posing a risk to people and pets.
We have had a number of sightings recently, and have been able to record registration plates. Being able to gather this sort of info significantly improves our chances of being able to do something about these unwanted visitors as every reported sighting with a registration plate gets passed on to the police.
We are working with the police on their pathwatch scheme, and so as well as reporting illegal 4x4s to us, you can also report them to the police direct at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/community_safety/pathwatch/

Summer Holiday fun in the forest

It's been a busy summer so far with plenty going on- much of it with a bushcraft theme! We have had 60 young people out in the woods with CLOWNS nursery of Minehead's summer school learning how to build shelters, friction firelighting and making their own films.

The Exmoor National Park and Crown Estate Big adventure day in the forest was a great success this saturday the 6th, with around 300 people joining us for a day of forest based fun.

Dunster Fair was also a great success for us, with George and Maggie Yeomans of Guiding on Skye bushcraft company joining us and encouraging passers by to have a go at friction firelighting.

There is plenty more to come too, so keep an eye on our events page for more details of upcoming events (www.dunsterestate.co.uk/events)

what a start to 2011!

Sorry it's been a while since our last post- it's busy start to the year! so far we have planted 500 native oak trees in Dunster Forest with 70 members of the local community, established a committee of local people to manage the community orchard and arrange events, built owl boxes with volunteers, the forestry commission and hawk and owl trust, installed a brand new network of waymarked walking trails in the forest, and hosted the first of a number of bushcraft courses that will run over the spring and summer.

There is plenty more in the pipeline as we get ready for what we hope to be a busy visitor season, so watch this space!

More Recreational Facilities for Dunster Estate Under Discussion

As part of ongoing consultation and discussion, ideas to expand further the recreational facilities on The Crown Estate’s Dunster estate, including a possible designation of the Dunster Forest as a Forest Park, were given an enthusiastic welcome recently by local businesses at Dunster Chamber of Trade.

The Dunster chamber of trade has itself achieved great success in getting Dunster designated as a "walkers are welcome" town, which will highlight to visitors that Dunster and the surrounding land (largely owned by The Crown Estate), is ideally set up for walkers.

The Crown Estate is very keen to work with the local community and other partners to promote economic activity and tourism in Dunster and the surrounding area. To this end we have a number of plans to add to the recreational facilities on offer in the area and to encourage greater numbers of year round visitors to enjoy the landscape, the walks and the varied attractions of the village.

As part of this process we are consulting with various agencies and community groups about the possibility of designating the Dunster Forest as a Forest Park. Further details will follow shortly, and a period of wider public consultation will be announced when these are available, so watch this space!

Lost and found...

If you have been for a walk in the Dunster Forest in the last week or so you may be concerned that we are playing a practical joke on visitors by confusing the waymarked trail signage!

What we are actually doing is gradually phasing in a brand new waymarked trail network, that will take the number of walking trails from 3 to 7. The walks have been designed as cicular routes which take in all the best bits of the Dunster Forest. They include 3 walks that start and finish on the edge of Dunster, so you can factor in a well deserved pint by the fire or cream tea into your walk!

The old walking trail network will still remain in place for the duration of the installation process, but once all the signage is in place the old trails will cease to exist. Details of the new walking trails are available from our webiste, www.dunsterestate.co.uk.

The existing cycle trail will also be phased out in time, and we will be reviewing this to make improvements to this facility.

New leaflets will be available from the end of october.