Whinlatter Forest Reviews Summary

Facilities

Pros:

• "The café and shop were good and car parking was reasonable."
• "INCREDIBLE & WELL SORTED FACILITIES. CAR PARKING PRICES ARE FAIR.. GREAT CAFE & SHOP.. TOILETS, SHOWERS, ETC ETC."
• "Facilities are great: bike wash, car park, shop and cafe."
• "The cafe and the visitor centre are excellent, plus clean toilets."
• "Facilities are also great."
• "Incredible trail centre, nice variation of trails in a great location with great facilities (toilets, cafe, large carpark, bike shop / rentals)."
• "The mountain bike shop on site has everything you'll need and more."

Cons:

• "Car park seams pricey, but the facilities are all there as required and very clean and tidy."
• "Also being local the yearly pass is way too expensive. Would definitely go more often if cheaper!"
• "Now has parking cameras which is very greedy given they don't provide bins."
• "Parking however was a bit of a nightmare around lunchtime."
• "The car parking is the only thing that lets the place down with it often being over crowded and the fees aren't great."
• "Parking charges were a bit steep as seems to be the case with a lot of forestry areas and getting worse."
• "Not one rubbish bin anywhere either around the car park or on the trail."

Trails & Activities

Pros:

• "The red bike trails are interesting to ride and about 11 miles long."
• "This was the best hike I have ever been on and it lasted close to 3 hours."
• "Fantastic place to explore. Plenty of activities all around the forest for the littleuns and biguns, enjoyable walks, adventure play area."
• "The walks around the forest are well marked and show off the beautiful surrounding scenery."
• "Lots to do for walkers, runners and cyclists. Lots of marked trails for all abilities."
• "The Altura Trail which is rated as a Red & is made up of two loops(North & South) other are 6 miles in length, both require you to have a good level of fitness & trail riding skills."
• "Loads to do for all the family! The Mountain bike trails are brilliant with epic views and very well maintained tracks."

Cons:

• "I do enjoy this place when visiting the lakes however i must say due to all the tree felling its getting more like a woods than a forest go ape is expensive especially if you have a family of 5."
• "Crowded in the peak season."
• "Forestry were also butchering part of the MTB trails felling trees."
• "Some great views, but the waterfall is almost inaccessible after recent storms so is not really worth the trip unless you feel the need to accomplish every route."
• "Signs are poor. A white arrow on red background for mtb, a slightly different one for runners and a slightly different one again for a forrest trail. Signs suddenly run out."
• "The waterfall is almost inaccessible after recent storms so is not really worth the trip unless you feel the need to accomplish every route."
• "This is a lovely forest with lots to do for the kids, however I feel the contraptions they have put in for kids takes away the reason for being in the forest."

Cafe & Shop

Pros:

• "There is a lovely gift shop and a lovely café too, although the prices in the café are steep."
• "The cafe is lovely with plenty of coffee and cake to choose from."
• "The cafe is very good too. We had a quick lunch of soup and sausage roll but the mains coming out looked amazing."
• "The onsite cafe is lovely with great views and doggy friendly."
• "Cafe was great, food was well worth the money and the coffee and ice creams were delicious too."
• "A cafe, that offers a good range of quality products to eat and drink, whilst still being very reasonably priced, given its location."
• "The cafe and other facilities are good."

Cons:

• "The café needs a good clean though. So many cobwebs and dead flies under tables."
• "Food was okay in the cafe but quite overpriced."
• "Can get really busy on a nice day as was a big queue in the cafe."
• "Nothing suitable for vegans in the cafe and the food they do have is expensive."
• "Overly expensive bacon butty at £6. Smoked bacon rashers in a brioche bun and no butter or marge, yuk."
• "Car parking charges and the cafe are expensive."
• "Commercial rip off to the ordinary visitor, staff reluctant to help, jacket potato and a filling £8 and an ANPR car park price to rival your local hospital."

Parking

Pros:

• "The car park is huge so you won't need to worry about parking issues."
• "Parking is great and the facilities are top notch."
• "The car park wasn't too expensive and you just pay before you leave."
• "Like the car parking just pay when you leave and charges seem reasonable."
• "Dog friendly! Lovely little shop and plenty of parking."
• "Beautiful place, plenty of parking at a reasonable price."
• "Plenty of parking and is always busy."

Cons:

• "Overly expensive car parking in a forest, then charging £1.50 for a route map leaflet which you can download for free."
• "Parking a bit expensive with 1 hour @ £2 hence 4 stars."
• "Parking was quite expensive."
• "The car park is ANPR so as soon as you enter its a charge."
• "Parking is free for twenty minutes(!) then £2.50 for an hour, then additional costs for every fifteen minutes you stay."
• "Car parking was very busy though and not cheap as equivalent to £1.50 per hour after the minimum period of 1 hour at about £2.50."
• "Car park expensive cost £6.20 for 3hrs 23 min which they round up to 3hrs 40min and charge you for it."