Exploring Delamere Forest with Kids: Red Walk, Gruffalo Trail & More [Part 1]

Friday 8th August 2025. Our last day of annual leave this week dawned with the usual question: Where shall we go? We bounced around a few ideas before deciding to make the most of our Forestry England membership. Another forest visit it was — and Delamere Forest won the vote.

The Big Debate: MTB or walk?
After having a nosey at the Delamere Forest website, their new blue MTB route wasn’t very clearly explained. So, erring on the side of caution (and keeping our annual pass benefits in mind), we opted for one of their many walking routes instead. We figured we could scope the bike trails whilst we were there for “next time”.

It took just over an hour from home, and we rolled up mid-morning with the dog in tow to a blissfully quiet car park. Promising start!

Starting Out
From the car park, we wandered to the visitor centre to see what walks were on offer. There’s an info board, outdoor seating, toilets, a café, and a park (I’ll share more about facilities in a future post).

Signage pointed us past the visitor centre, across a small internal road, to more route boards. One board was surrounded by another family, so we looked at the other. It listed walks and cycle routes — but didn’t say if the general cycle routes were dual use. That ruled out our original plan of doing the “big” White Walk, so we switched to the shorter Red Walk instead. Later, back at the visitor centre, we spotted that the other board actually did confirm the White Walk was dual use… but hey, there’s always next time!

The Red Walk
All the walks start on the same section, shared with the popular Gruffalo Trail. If you have younger walkers, this is a big hit — sculptures of the Gruffalo characters pop up along the way. Our red route dipped in and out of these sections, so we spotted a few along our walks today. The red walk is approximately 3.6 miles but we clocked almost 4 on our watches.

As with most Forestry England sites, the paths here are wide, well-maintained gravel tracks — plenty of room to walk side-by-side, let the children run ahead and be free, and pushchairs are fine too.

The first part of the walk took us over a small river, up a hill, and across a railway bridge. We’re all a bit geeky about anything mechanical, so we stopped to wait for a train.

Nothing.

Until, of course, the moment we started walking away — then one appeared, running alongside us. The boys loved chasing it as they ran down the pathway that ran alongside the track. The trails were also dotted with branch teepees, all of which were thoroughly inspected (and occasionally “claimed”) by the boys.

A little further on, we crossed another bridge — same drill, same lack of train… until we walked away again. Clearly, there’s a theme here. 😅

Scenery & Surprises
Most of the walk was classic Forestry England — well-made tracks through dense woodland — but one section really stood out: a wide, boggy-looking expanse that reminded us of Fenn’s Moss. Sure enough, when we checked the map later, it was peat moss. We skirted a good portion of its edge on the red route — it made a lovely change of scenery.

Go Ape Temptations
About two-thirds of the way in, we passed the Delamere Go Ape course. We’d tried Go Ape at Cannock Chase after winning tickets from Adventure Mind, and if you like heights, zip wires, and wobbly bridges, I’d highly recommend it. Forestry England members get a discount, so the boys are already plotting to swap a future birthday treat for another go. I secretly hope they do!

Gruffalo Finale
Soon we were back on parts of the Gruffalo Trail, where we met the big guy himself at a small picnic spot complete with ice cream van. We took a photo with the fox, strolled back to the visitor centre, and decided it was time for a brew and ice cream before tackling a second walk. It was a perfect day for walking and it was nice to be in no rush to get anywhere!

☕🍦 To be continued…

Related Posts You Might Like:

---