Great Wood

Great Wood is arguably one of the most beautiful places in the country. Every time I go there I am blown away by the beauty of nature. It is a great day out for nature lovers, dog walkers, hikers and families alike. There are several different walks of differing inclines and difficulty levels suitable for different abilities. For more the adventurous you can leave the signed paths, but if you do remember the woods are massive and there is little phone reception there so plan accordingly. There is also a nice campground in an opening. It has picnic tables and fire pits (check if fires are allowed at that point in the year) where families spend a nice day out. The only downside is that to get to the car parks, you have to go down a lane that is a little bumpy (you have to avoid the potholes) and your car is guaranteed to get covered in the red clay dust (washes off very easily though).

Open countryside will easy and challenging routes. Especially if you go off trail.

Very disappointed today. Arrived after buying bbq supplies on the way. The kids and I were really looking forward to it. We did a lap of the basic 'great wood trail' to only discover a sign at the 'bbq field' that read 'no fires or bbq's due to dry conditions'! DRY CONDITIONS!?! It's been on and off raining for four or five weeks now! Obviously, there was nobody around to question about thus sign, so we ended up going elsewhere! Ridiculous!

On arrival, we found 3 carparks at different levels. The middle carpark has a designated picnic area with seats and tables together with a public toilet block. We started at the lower carpark to do the 2.4 mile round trip walk. The first mile was a stady uphill walk. This could be difficult for some people. The walk was enjoyable with a very intense forest, ferns, and stream. Most enjoyable with very few other people.

Good place for access to the quantock hills for dog walks or mountain biking, large picnic area in ranscombe and toilet facilities. 4 stars as it looks like you will need to pay to park soon. Machines out of action when I went.

Great for dog walking although have seen horses up there so we keep ours on the lead still. Foxy Bean cafe at the bottom is really nice.

Absolutely stunning walk, great place to take the family to have a picnic & bbq. The walks are beautiful with some stunning scenery.Adscombe Lane, over stowey TA5 1HN

Many paths to roam in beautiful countryside. Great for picnics.

We loved this! We hiked for nearly 3hours (not intended!) so would advise taking note of the map as we got lost! It’s very steep in places and no quick route back to the car for mobility/health issues. But it was very cool, shady, breazy and there is a stream which the dogs loved to splash in. We only started seeing people and off lead dogs when we approach the car park (last 15minutes) so extremely quiet, wide bridal path round the woods or lots of tracks cutting through the woods in total and much needed shade. Free parking, no bins or toilets.