You are here: Inspiration > Viewpoints & Sights
You don't need to spend money to have fun! Find one of the many viewpoints overlooking the Wye Valley or Forest of Dean to take the best pictures. Take your lunch to a picnic site in the heart of the Forest. Learn about our history and heritage or simply walk and enjoy nature.
Number of results: 37
, currently showing 1 to 20.
Coleford
Beechenhurst, managed by Forestry England, lies in the heart of the Forest of Dean, and is a great place to start your forest adventure. Trail, play area, picnic spots, Go Ape and cafe.
Symonds Yat
Internationally renowned viewpoint with fantastic views over the Wye Valley. A car park, cafe and shop are nearby and there are woodland walks all around including down to Symonds Yat East village.
Soudley
We are the Museum of the Forest: a stunning building and location with inside and outside attractions. Learn about the history of the Forest from the Ice Age to the present day, visit our museum and gallery, explore the Gruffalo woodland trail, see inside a reconstructed Forester's cottage, visit a charcoal burner's camp, see chainsaw carving, our working water wheel and pretty stream, kids will enjoy our woodland playground plus there is an excellent cafe and gift shop.
Parkend
Beautiful lake in the Forest of Dean, popular for walking, with lots of picnic benches, nearby cycle paths and a cafe and toilets on site.
Monmouth
The nation's favourite river, flowing through some of the most beautiful lowland scenery in Britain. Find out about the Wye Valley AONB.
Grosmont
Grosmont Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Grosmont, Monmouthshire, one of a trio of Monmouthshire fortresses known as the ‘Three Castles’ – which includes White Castle and Skenfrith – built to control the border. The fortification was established by the Normans in the wake of the invasion of England in 1066. It experienced an active life including being besieged in the Glyndŵr Rising rebellion of 1405.
Caldicott
Black Rock is on the Monmouthshire coastline of the Severn Estuary between the two Severn bridges. There is a picnic site and the location gives fantastic panoramic views of the estuary and both bridges. Black Rock is the home of a traditional method of fishing which has been practiced for hundreds of years and and also historic links with much earlier ways of crossing the river.
Ruardean Hill
The highest point in the Forest of Dean at 290m high with a beacon and a memorial to miners killed in the local collieries. The beacon was built in 2002 and is lit to commemorate important occasions. This was followed by the statue of a crouching miner installed in 2008 and the memorial in 2017. Together they represent a striking feature on the hill.
Lydney
The Geomap celebrates both the geological and the industrial history of the Forest of Dean. Each layer of rock shown on Geomap is made from the actual rock it represents, taken from local quarries. Overlain on the map is the industrial history, demonstrating the link between the underlying geology and the great quarrying and mining industries of the past.
Coleford
Foresters’ Forest is a £2.5m National Lottery Heritage funded scheme with 38 community projects that uncover, reveal, share and celebrate our heritage.
Cliffords Mesne
May Hill is one of the most familiar landmarks for many miles around, with its near circular mound and crowning clump of trees. It offers wonderful views and is an ideal spot to view the sunrise and sunset over the forest, hills and valleys all around.
Monmouth
When Admiral Lord Nelson visited the site in 1802 he described it as one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen.
Chepstow
Breathtaking views of the Wye Valley and River Severn from the Eagle's Nest at the top of a steep, wooded limestone cliff.
Near Lydbrook
A Forest car park with vast walks, a picnic site, pond with waterlilies and an area steeped in the heritage of mining with old railway lines and bridges and a new mining memorial installed in 2022. Off-road cycling trails and access to the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail.
Parkend
Nagshead is an RSPB Nature Reserve, the largest in the Forest of Dean. It is an ideal spot for birdwatching and wildlife spotting with woodland walks, ponds and hides. In spring watch for pied flycatchers and buzzards. In winter look for crossbills and hawfinches.
Forest of Dean
A small fishing lake in the Speech House woods, used as a filming location in the BBC series Merlin.
Chepstow
Chepstow Park is a large block of woodland with both mature broadleaf and conifer species as well as an excellent viewpoint south towards the Severn Bridges.
Goodrich
One of the most prominent features in the Lower Wye Valley offering some of the best views and walks in the area. 98 hectares of the hill is a local nature reserve, bluebells cover the hill in spring and it is well known as being an ideal spot to leaf peep the autumn colours. South of Goodrich and west of Kerne Bridge it is surrounded by two large loops in the River Wye with Symonds Yat close by.
A nature reserve and lake in the heart of the Forest of Dean which is home to a wide range of plants and animals, many miles of footpaths and open forest views. The heathlands nearby offer open grazing for cattle and ponies.
Lydney
Riverside walks, sculptures, great for birdwatching, sunsets and steeped in history, Lydney Harbour is well worth visiting as a place of beauty but also to see the power and force of the River Severn and its estuary which has the second highest tidal range in the world. Now with a new modern takeaway cafe.
©Visit Dean Wye 2024. All Rights Reserved.
*Visit Dean Wye is the trading name of Forest of Dean & Wye Valley Tourism Limited.