High Lodge Thetford Forest Centre, Suffolk, Near Brandon IP27 0AF Tel:  0300 067 4400
High Lodge is a fantastic fun day out for all the family.  It’s more than just a walk in the woods as it has extensive play areas and over 35 miles of beautiful surroundings in the forest. The play area is set among the trees with challenges for children of most abilities and ages. Five giant wooden play sculptures are linked by an easy access trail for buggies, as well as wheelchairs and easy walking.
There is so much to do here for families with the many walks and cycle trails for families on a tight budget you could spend the whole day here and apart from the car park you don’t really have to spend another penny. Here is a round-up of what you will find at High Lodge:
  • Stickman Trail – There are many activities to complete whilst following the trail, and it is buggy accessible.
  • Gruffalo’s Child – Gruffalo’s Child is over towards the Rabbit and new Tree House. You can find her by following the Fir and Pine trails from outside the information point. Beautiful wood carvings.
  • Plenty of other way marked trails of varying length that you can find out about in the visitor centre.
  • The Sound Trail – Wooden musical instruments dotted around the wooded trail where the kids can make lots of musical sounds.
  • Pump Track – This new feature is a sloping, rolling loop circuit for speedy cycling!
  • Cycle Trails and single track off-road routes which offer more challenging terrain for older kids and more adventurous types.
  • Slides and Climbing Frames, Play equipment dotted throughout is excellent – new, well designed and exciting for the kids.
  • Plenty of space to play cricket, football etc.
  • Wildplay naturalistic adventure playground which features not only lots of physical play equipment for sliding, climbing and balancing but also a brand new Toddler Tower play structure for the smaller ones to get to grips with the ideas in greater safety. There is also an extensive sand play area to enjoy with a crane and mini diggers.
  • Pyramid Tower – This is a separate play structure offering an exciting 13m tunnel slide, 3 more slides, rope bridges and crawling tunnels.
  • Café
  • Toilets available inside the Café and also outside.
  • Big open area for picnics with plenty of picnic tables dotted around.
  • Bike and Segway hire (you will need your driving licence or passport in order to hire bikes and Segways as proof of ID. This is retained whilst hiring).
  • BBQ’s can be used if hired from High Lodge.
There is so much woodland to explore that it’s worth taking the bikes and the kids scooters with you if you can get them in the car. In the warmer weather, there are table tennis tables – complete with bats and balls and a volleyball net again with a ball and all free.  They also do pony rides in the summer although there is an extra charge for this. There are several map boards on site for walk trails, cycle trails and a play area map located at the entrance to the ‘Wild Play’ area.  They sell maps at the Information Point  You can download a map before you visit on www.forestry.gov.uk/highlodge. Go-Ape also operates from the site at an additional charge.  There is a Go-Ape for adults and a Junior Go-Ape for the kids. It is also a fantastic concert venue for a long weekend in July! High Lodge Website