School Groups and School Tours in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley

The Forest of Dean and Wye Valley is ideally suited for school and youth groups with ancient history and modern activities, fun experiences and unique locations.

You'll find that many of our businesses have special resources for school trips to help make your planning even easier: Puzzlewood has learning resources for six educational topics that cover different aspects of the National Curriculum; The Dean Heritage Centre – the ‘museum of the Forest’ – has a learning catalogue for schools with a range of options; The Dean Forest Railway can run workshops, museum and signal box tours and has three educational fact sheets to cover KS1-3. Clearwell Caves, Hopewell Colliery and many other businesses offer guided tours for school groups too.

Outdoor activities include bushcraft, wildlife safaris and birdwatching tours, watersports, rock climbing and abseiling. You'll also find that a number of activities can be provided at other locations, for example bushcraft or archery can often come to you, and if staying overnight many accommodation providers can organise activities on site. You’ll also find several businesses who provide a range of activities and could put on a half-day, full day or multi-day package for you meaning less time on the coach and more time making memories and taking in the beautiful scenery.

Looking for an overnight stay? We have youth hostels in medieval castles and in idyllic locations alongside the River Wye and we have a youth campsite especially suited for school trips with direct access to the river ideal for watersports.

All of our hostels and bunkhouses can be found here.

All of our campsites can be found here.

You can also see a full list of everything there is to see and do suitable for large coaches here. This includes picturesque and free locations such as Symonds Yat Rock and the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail which are also ideal for bird spotting and learning about the natural world. We have local tour guides who can provide talks too.