Family-friendly things to do at Hatfield Forest

Planning your family visit

• Toilets with baby-changing facilities are available next to the lakeside café
• The café has a range of hot and cold snacks, children’s lunch boxes and hot and cold drinks.
• Picnic benches in the lakeside area, with some undercover seating in the Fishermen's Shelter, next to the Shell House, for when it rains
• the main car park is in the lakeside area but if you fancy a bit of exercise first, before refreshment at the cafe, try parking in the entrance car park - its takes about 20 min to walk to the lake, along the boardwalk and then across the damn at the end of the lake.
• in summer, there is also a grass car park at Elgins, half way into the lake area, where you can park and then have a shorter stroll to the lakeside area, across the barrage at the end of the lake.

Family-friendly things to do outdoors

Hatfield Forest is a National Nature Reserve of over 1000 acres, so there's plenty of space for you to run and play in our great natural playground. 

Enjoy the walking trails

Hatfield Forest has large expanse of wide open spaces for you to explore on foot, as well as grassy paths or 'rides' between the coppices.

You can follow walking trails through the Forest or, if you're feeling adventurous, make up your own route. Don't forget to take a map and compass to avoid getting lost.

Explore the forest by bike

Bring your own bicycles and discover the far corners of the forest. Most of the forest is a safe, car-free area. The more adventurous can include a stretch of the Flitch Way, a disused railway line on the northern boundary of the forest.

Geocaching

There are at least 14 geocaches hidden across the forest, so open your Geocaching app and see how many you can locate. Please note, however, that these are removed between November and March, to help protect the forest trails when the ground conditions are very wet and muddy. 

Travel through time

There are lots of places for little ones to learn about history at Hatfield Forest.

The landscaped lakeside area harks back to the styles introduced in the 18th century by the celebrated landscape designer Lancelot 'Capability' Brown and includes the Shell House.

Further afield, you'll find several sites of historic interest including the earthworks at Portingbury Hills, the site of the Doodle Oak, the pillow mounds from the medieval rabbit warren, hidden under the horse chestnut trees, south of Warren Cottage, and nearby, the medieval half-timbered Forest Lodge, in the central area of the main plain.

Look out for the remains of huts from the Second World War, when ammunition was stored under the trees in Elgins Coppice, visible on both sides of the entrance road as you go through Elgins Coppice.