Thetford Forest is the largest
lowland
Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland.
Definitions
Upland and lowland are portions of ...
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
forest in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and is located in a region straddling the north of
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
and the south of
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It covers over
in the form of a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
.
History
![Big Wood, Thetford Forest - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Big_Wood%2C_Thetford_Forest_-_geograph.org.uk_-_222653.jpg)
Thetford Forest was created after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
to provide a strategic reserve of timber, since the country had lost so many
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s and other slow-growing trees as a consequence of the war's demands. It is managed by
Forestry England
Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. It was formed as Forest Enterprise in 1996, before devolving to Forest Enterprise England on 31 March 2003 and ...
. The creation of the forest destroyed much of the typical
Breckland environment of gorse and sandy ridges, ending the frequent sand blows (where the wind picked up sand and blew it across the land reducing visibility). However, this environment was itself man-made, since the area had been denuded by
flint-mining, the construction of
rabbit warrens and other activities.
Grime's Graves
Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex in Norfolk, England. It lies north east from Brandon, Suffolk in the East of England. It was worked between 2600 and 2300 BC, although production may have continued well into ...
is located within the forest.
Making a landscape
Acquiring the land
By the end of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the economic position of the large
landed estate
In real estate, a landed property or landed estate is a property that generates income for the owner (typically a member of the gentry) without the owner having to do the actual work of the estate.
In medieval Western Europe, there were two compet ...
s in England were bleak and particularly acute in areas of poor soil like Breckland. Farms were left untenanted and land became derelict. At this time
Forestry England
Forestry England is a division of the Forestry Commission, responsible for managing and promoting publicly owned forests in England. It was formed as Forest Enterprise in 1996, before devolving to Forest Enterprise England on 31 March 2003 and ...
had been established. In 1922, the first purchases of land were made with over 80% of the land in Thetford Forest acquired in the 1920s and 1930s in the form of large blocks of land from the former estates.
Management
Since the forest's inception decisions affecting the forest have been taken locally at the Divisional Offices at
Santon Downham
Santon Downham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 240.[Forester
A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...]
s were the next level in the hierarchy and were often recruited from the forestry workers and by the 1940s they were trained for two years in the Commission's Forestry Schools. Beneath them were the ''
gangers'' or
foremen who supervised the forestry workers. The forest workers were organised into gangs of between three and thirty, their tasks included clearing ground, planting, weeding and later brashing and thinning.
Labour and labour camps
Breckland of the 1920s was an area of high
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...
and the Commission had few problems recruiting staff. From the outset the Commission believed that it would help alleviate unemployment in rural Britain. Many people were keen to take up forestry work, especially as the job included a
tied cottage
In the United Kingdom, a tied cottage is typically a dwelling owned by an employer that is rented to an employee: if the employee leaves their job they may have to vacate the property; in this way the employee is tied to their employer. While the ...
, many with an attached
small holding
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...
. By the late 1920s, unemployed people, mainly
miners
A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...
, from the depressed areas of the
North of England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
were housed in the forest holdings. As the
depression deepened training camps were established. From 1928 up to 1938, 21 camps
and a further 10 only used in the summer months housing a total of 6000 men were scattered throughout the infant forest. The unemployment schemes and mass unemployment came to an end with the onset of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The war years saw a drastic shortage of labour as local men joined the
armed forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
or took up other jobs. This led to a significant number of women employed in the forest. They were employed by the Timber Production Department, and by 1943 the
Women's Land Army
The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the W ...
had a training camp at
Wordwell
Wordwell is a small village and civil parish in Suffolk, England, about five miles North of Bury St Edmunds. The village was hit by the Black Death in 1348 and never recovered in terms of population; in 2005 it was estimated to have only 20 resi ...
on the edge of the forest. With the end of the war women workers gradually decreased. In 1946, the Forest Workers Training Scheme was set up providing one year's training for
demobbed
Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...
servicemen. During the
post-war
In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...
years the number of people employed increased to 570 by 1950. However, with the development of the nearby town of Thetford recruitment of labour became more difficult. With the introduction of modern technology and the use of modern weedkillers these problems eased through the sixties and by the mid-1970s the numbers of workers was similar to the 1930s.
Planting
Seed collection
The vast quantities of trees needed for the forest in its infancy needed huge amounts of seed much of it obtained locally. Men and women were sent out into the countryside, gathering
cones
A cone is a three-dimensional geometric shape that tapers smoothly from a flat base (frequently, though not necessarily, circular) to a point called the apex or vertex.
A cone is formed by a set of line segments, half-lines, or lines conn ...
from existing plantations and pine hedges. As the new plantations matured it was possible to obtain seed from the forest itself. From 1925 the seed was extracted from the cones at the Seed Extraction Unit at Santon Downham, this continued to be operated until 1964. Once the seed had germinated the seedlings were transplanted after one year's growth. This was later increased to two years. After being ''lined out'' in the nursery they were grown on for one to two years before they were planted in the forest.
Tree species
As soon as a property was acquired by the Commission planting began with the majority of the forest planted within the first 20 years. The
scots pine
''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
was the initial choice as the main forest tree given the adverse local conditions and seeds being readily available in the locality. However, the
corsican pine
''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as wel ...
was being established at several locations from the early 1920s. Today (2013), the tree is the dominant species in the forest owing to its having greater resistance to fungal diseases and insect pests, more tolerance of the thin chalky soils and producing a higher volume of timber per acre. Many other species of
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
were planted including the
Douglas fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
and
larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
but these were less tolerant of local conditions than the pines. Substantial numbers of indigenous
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
trees were planted in the 1920s and 1930s.
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
and
beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
plantings were vulnerable to spring frosts and
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
proved a threat particularly to the beech saplings. Oak tended to fare better but they grew slowly compared to pines, and were considered uneconomic with numbers being planted steadily declining. However, hardwood trees have been planted to form narrow roadside belts acting as a fire control measure. Besides oak and beech a wide variety of species including
lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
,
walnut
A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''.
Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
,
red oak
The genus Oak, ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many List of the largest genera of flowering plants, large genera, is Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, divided into subgenus, subgen ...
and
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
have been established.
The forest matures
Maintenance and industry
As the trees became established and were approximately 20 feet high all side shoots up to six feet were removed. This process called ''brashing'' ensured easy access, less risk of fire and the first six feet of the tree had a reduced knotty core. The next stage after brashing was ''pre-thinning'' this process was carried out after 15 to 16 years. It involved the removal of diseased trees. Larger trees known as ''wolves'' were also removed as they suppressed their smaller and straighter more valuable neighbours.
Thinning
Thinning is a term used in agricultural sciences to mean the removal of some plants, or parts of plants, to make room for the growth of others. Selective removal of parts of a plant such as branches, buds, or roots is typically known as pruning.
...
began when the trees were 18 to 20 years old, coinciding with the start of World War 2. At this time there was much debate about how the work would be carried out. It was decided that ''racks'' or access ways 18 to 20 feet in width would be cut and then dividing the compartments into blocks covering 5 acres. Next, two rows of trees were removed to create a ''rack'' some 10 feet wide. The thinnings were graded and the straighter poles used as
pit prop
A pit prop or mine prop (British and American usage, respectively) is a length of lumber used to prop up the roofs of tunnels in coal mines.
Canada traditionally supplied pit props to the British market. As coal mining declined in importance an ...
s in the
coal industry
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when de ...
. Other thinnings had a wide range of uses including fencing posts, pea poles in gardens and into netting stakes for the local
rabbit warrens. Curved or irregular shaped cuttings was sold as firewood. In 1946, a central processing depot was established at
Brandon
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
*Brandon, Q ...
to process poles into pit-props destined for the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
coalfields. Large amounts of waste material was generated and this attracted a secondary industry of
charcoal burning
A charcoal burner is someone whose occupation is to manufacture charcoal. Traditionally this is achieved by carbonising wood in a charcoal pile or kiln.
Charcoal burning is one of the oldest human crafts. The knowledge gained from this industr ...
. As the forest matured the quantity of the thinnings increased with the disposal of them continued to be a problem. By 1950, demand from the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...
for the timber decreased and the commission had to find new outlets, these included many of the smaller poles being cut up and converted into
wallboard
Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thick ...
and some 60 tons of pine transported each week to a
wood wool
Wood wool, known primarily as excelsior in North America, is a product made of wood slivers cut from logs. It is mainly used in packaging, for cooling pads in home evaporative cooling systems known as swamp coolers, for erosion control mats, and ...
factory in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. Large numbers of thinnings were taken to the Commission's own
creosote
Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics.
Some creosote types were ...
plant at Santon Downham which was established in 1958 before closing in 1970. As the forest matured the size of the material being removed increased and clear felling of mature areas began with felled timber being sold directly to timber merchants. By the mid 1960s
chainsaw
A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable gasoline-, electric-, or battery-powered saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. It is used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, ...
s had been introduced and by the early 1980s specially adapted tractors and trailers known as
forwarder
A forwarder is a forestry vehicle that carries big felled logs from the stump to a roadside landing. Unlike a skidder, a forwarder carries logs clear of the ground, which can reduce soil impacts but tends to limit the size of the logs it c ...
s came into widespread operation. With the arrival of the
harvester in 1991 full mechanization had reached the forest. Some 2500 trees were being extracted each day producing 180,000 cubic metres of timber annually by 1997. Much of this is sold to local saw mills and used in the building industry with the remainder producing fence posts,
pallet
A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural foundat ...
s and pit props.
Conservation
Visitor numbers have been increasing steadily from the 1950s as the forest matured and now exceed 1 million annually. Open areas created by felling have made the forest a more pleasant place for visitors to walk and picnic. These changes have now attracted a wider variety of wildlife including birds such as
crossbill
The crossbill is a genus, ''Loxia'', of birds in the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterised by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in ...
s and nesting
sparrowhawks which have increased interest from naturalists. The commissions changing attitude to the public was in part a response to the threat of
privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
in the 1980s. In 1985 the Thetford Forest Management Plan were recommending a wide range of measures including the importance of wildlife and the forest to be visually pleasing and culminated in May 1990 with forest designated as a Forest Park. The growing importance of recreation was reflected with the opening of the High Lodge visitor centre in 1992. Conservation in the management of the forest has greatly increased and by 1991 a Conservation Panel made up of experts in various relevant fields had been set up. Within the forest
English Nature
English Nature was the United Kingdom government agency that promoted the conservation of wildlife, geology and wild places throughout England between 1990 and 2006. It was a non-departmental public body funded by the Department for Environmen ...
have designated 11
SSSI
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
s which have been chosen as representative of the principal Breckland habitats.
Biodiversity
![Edge of Thetford Forest - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Edge_of_Thetford_Forest_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1025834.jpg)
The forest is largely surrounded by farmland, as well as the villages of
West Stow
West Stow is a small village and civil parish in West Suffolk, England. The village lies north of Bury St. Edmunds, south of Mildenhall and Thetford and west of the villages of Culford and Ingham in the area known as the Breckland. This ar ...
,
Ingham,
Elveden
Elveden is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2005 it had a population of 270. The village is bypassed by the A11 between Cambridge and Norwich, which ran through the centre of the villa ...
, and the towns of
Mundford
Mundford is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated at the intersection of two major routes, the A134 Colchester to King's Lynn road and the A1065 Mildenhall to Fakenham road, about north west of Thetford. ...
and
Thetford
Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24,340 ...
in Norfolk, and
Brandon
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
*Brandon, Q ...
in Suffolk, however it has a high level of biodiversity. It is home to a large population of hares, rabbits and gamebirds. Several species of deer also reside there,
muntjac
Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, ...
,
roe deer
The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...
and a small population of
red deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
, the last hunted by the Norwich Staghounds before deer hunting was outlawed.
The forest is well known for its scarce breeding birds, such as
woodlark
The woodlark or wood lark (''Lullula arborea'') is the only extant species in the lark genus ''Lullula''. It is found across most of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia and the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident (non- migratory) ...
s,
nightjar
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk ta ...
s,
goshawk
Goshawk may refer to several species of birds of prey, mainly in the genus ''Accipiter'':
* Northern goshawk, ''Accipiter gentilis'', often referred to simply as the goshawk, since it is the only goshawk found in much of its range (in Europe and N ...
s,
crossbill
The crossbill is a genus, ''Loxia'', of birds in the finch family (Fringillidae), with six species. These birds are characterised by the mandibles with crossed tips, which gives the group its English name. Adult males tend to be red or orange in ...
s,
siskin
The name siskin when referring to a bird is derived from an adaptation of the German dialect words ''sisschen'', ''zeischen'', which are diminutive forms of Middle High German (''zîsec'') and Middle Low German (''ziseke'', ''sisek'') words, which ...
s as well as an introduced population of
golden pheasant
The golden pheasant (''Chrysolophus pictus''), also known as the Chinese pheasant, and rainbow pheasant, is a gamebird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae (pheasants). The genus name is from Ancient Greek ' ...
s. All of these can be found at the Mayday recreation site.
Stone curlew
The stone-curlews, also known as dikkops or thick-knees, consist of 10 species within the family Burhinidae, and are found throughout the tropical and temperate parts of the world, with two or more species occurring in some areas of Africa, Asia, ...
s breed on the edges of the forest and there is often a wintering
great grey shrike
The great grey shrike (''Lanius excubitor'') is a large and predatory songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae). It forms a superspecies with its parapatric southern relatives, the Iberian grey shrike (''L. meridionalis''), the Chinese ...
.
High Lodge Visitors Centre
High Lodge Visitors Centre was opened in 1992 and has a cafe, cycle hire, adventure play areas, walking trails, outdoor concerts, theatre and entertainment. It is also the home to the
Go Ape
Go Ape! is an outdoor adventure company which runs tree top ropes courses under the names Tree Top Challenge, Tree Top Adventure and Zip Trekking, as well as ground-based Forest Segway Safaris, at locations across the United Kingdom and the United ...
high wire adventure course.
Mountain biking
The forest is a popular destination for
mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...
, and has several marked
trails
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...
ranging from those suitable for families, to two ''
red trails'' for experienced riders. The forest also has hundreds of miles of
singletrack
Singletrack (or single track) describes a type of mountain biking trail that is approximately the width of the bike. It contrasts with double-track or fire road which is wide enough for four-wheeled off-road vehicles. It is often smooth and flow ...
, several ''
black-graded'' bomb holes and a steeply undulating section called "The Beast" at the end of th
Lime Burner Trail.
National
cross-country cycling
Cross-country (XC) cycling is a discipline of mountain biking. Cross-country cycling became an Olympic sport in 1996 and is the only form of mountain biking practiced at the Olympics.
Terrain
Cross-country cycling is defined by the terrain on w ...
races are held in the forest. There is also a recently formed organisation called TIMBER (Thetford Improved Mountain Biking EnviRonment) which aims to work with Forestry England to improve the mountain bike trails in the forest.
In popular culture
Annual concerts from notable musicians including
Pulp
Pulp may refer to:
* Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit
Engineering
* Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture
* Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper
* Molded pulp, a packaging material
...
and
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
are held in the forest at High Lodge. In 2007, saw
The Feeling
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
,
Blondie,
M People
M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...
,
Travis,
James Morrison and
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards.
As a teenager in t ...
take to the stage.
Keane and
Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...
played at Thetford on one of their forest tour dates in the summer of 2010.
Madness,
Razorlight
Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...
,
Plan B
Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan.
Plan B may also refer to:
* Plan B, a brand name of levonorgestrel, an emergency contraception drug
Film and television
* Plan B En ...
,
The Wanted
The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band consisting of group members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness and Nathan Sykes and, until his death in 2022, Tom Parker. The group was formed in 2009 and signed a worldwide contract to ...
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Will Young
William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 Pop Idol (series 1), inaugural series of the ITV (TV network), ITV talent contest ''Pop Idol'', making him the f ...
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Steps,
Ed Sheeran
Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...
all played concerts in the forest during summer 2012.
The forest was used as a location for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''.
leads from the north Norfolk coast and reaches its end in Thetford Forest, near
. Other walking routes in the Forest connect to it. There is also a walk way through the trees called '
'. There is a
which also brings many visitors. The British
Racing Association hold several husky racing events in the forest each winter.
A sizeable proportion of Thetford Forest and the surrounding woodlands is reserved for military activities in an area known as
, with public access forbidden.
and several minor roads. The forest towns of
.