Rendlesham Forest — Attraction in East Suffolk

Rendlesham is a lovely forest. We visited in Autumn and the colours were lovely. The trails were coloured and seemed to vary in length. There was a playground for kids (we didn't visit as they were exhausted from the walk!)

The coffee hut was excellent and we all enjoyed warm drinks after our wander.

However there are a few down sides which do need to be mentioned.

There is no visitor centre just a board with some leaflets on. If you get the UFO trail one that doesn't have all the others on and so it can be tricky if you get lost!

The car park is chargeable. Even for disabled. There are toilets inc disabled ones so I can understand there needs to be a cost...however...the one machine was exceptionally slow and the Ring go app was advertised as another option...but there is no signal to do this!!

Disabled access. There is a small disabled trail which appears to be around the car park. That wasn't really to our liking so we tried the UFO trail...this was NOT disabled friendly. Loose sand, significant roots, puddles. Don't try this one on a mobility scooter or in a wheelchair. Luckily we had a group of us to help. The charges felt over the top for disabled when there is so little to be able to access. The trail could easily have been made disabled friendly as there was a lot of it which was friendly for a mobility scooter. Lastly there were NO benches. A huge oversight and meant one of our party struggled...

I do like the Rendlesham forest centre. It is somewhere close to go with my children on the bikes. They have clearly marked walking and cycling routes to suit all fitness levels. Me and my son do the green and the pink route, then some lunch and 2 hours parking is bang on sufficient for that at £3, but best to pay the £5 if you are having a picnic and a walk. The parking charges are essential to pay for the route / play areas up keep, the staff and the toilets, it is clearly not enough revenue or it isn't all being spent back on the site. They used to only take cash in the machines, but they have recently upgraded to a card machine. The downside is once you visit some of the amazing forest centres in Thetford, you realise that Rendlesham forest is like many other things in Suffolk, second best. Portaloos, tired play areas, basic food facilities. If you just want a walk or a cycle it is fine, but if you have time to do so and want an awesome place to spend the day with the family then go to High Lodge Forest Centre in Thetford. It is everything that Rendlesham could be with some vision. Go Ape, Segways, restaurant, bike rentals, rentable BBQ areas that you prebook, proper toilets, well kept cycle routes without lethal...

Great place for fungi hunting, But I would advise against taking the dog between sept and Dec as mine contracted seasonal canine illness and nearly died he's still at the vets on life support poor little thing. This is a serious illness that without urgent vetenary care will kill your canine friend, Google it very sad to the owners that have lost their little ones to this horrible illness. That aside this forest is Awsome an I love it here, there is loads for the kids to do plenty of play parks and ufo trail with the recently added ufo ship hidden for you to find.also bike hire and toilets plus you can build a den from fallen branches. Im not going to Rendlesham till after winter I just can't risk it even without the dog I could unknowingly bring something back maybe it's fungal no one knows what it is that causes the illness Saying that though they hold regular husky sled racing less than a mile up the road in a part of the woods that is connected to Rendlesham this forest is MASSIVE and they don't seem to have any issues maybe it's breed dependant who knows but my...