***NOTE – The Stickman trail is being updated to a Pete’s Dragon Trail since the blog post was written ***
Since it arrived on our TV screens last Christmas we’ve been fans of the Stickman. So we were very excited to try out the Stickman Trail at Salcey Forest, a Forestry Commission site in Northamptonshire, about half an hour from Milton Keynes. The start of the trail is easy to find and of course you can do it without buying the activity pack for £3, but my eldest is now 3 years old and really wanted to get one. It contains a couple of pipe cleaners to make your own Stickman, some crayons and activity sheets for doing rubbings and ticking off each trail marker. They were easy to spot along the route and my son enjoyed ticking them off as he found them. It was just about the right length, any further and he would have got bored. There are little wooden houses to explore on the way around.
The end of the Stickman trail brings you out at the start of the tree top walk. The structure rises to 15 metres above the woodland floor, with a crow’s nest platform at 20 metres reached by steps. It offers stunning views across Salcey Forest and the adjoining woodlands of Yardley Chase. It’s a bit wobbly! But according to the Forestry Commission website it’s designed that way. I got sweaty palms walking up there. Fine to take the toddlers up – perfectly safe – but hold on to your belongings – you don’t want to drop anything over the edge. Apart from the high platform, it’s accessible for buggies. My 3 year old loved running back down it.
There’s a good climbing frame at the entrance but it’s too big for my boys at the moment. It would be great if they had some play equipment for under 5s as well. There’s a lovely café although we took a picnic. Depending when you visit it is a place than can get really muddy so wear appropriate clothing. Take £4 for parking. You can pay by phone but we couldn’t get a signal so take cash. Dogs are allowed. If you have older children there’s a really cool aerial ropes course they may enjoy but it’s £25, and a shock drop but that’s £5. We went at 11am, parked easily. Really busy by 2pm (on a weekend). Easy to get to via M1 or A508. The Stickman trail was there in August 2016 when we visited – do check the Salcey Forest website before travelling to check what activities are on when you visit. Do watch my video at the top of this page to get a good idea of what to expect. If you enjoyed this post do check out the Forests, gardens and woods section of my blog.
I'm Laura, mum of two boys - aged six and four. I started this website at the end of Sept 2015 whilst on maternity leave. I now work four days a week and do this blog late at night once the little boys are sleeping. It's won several awards over the last four years and I continue to run it for free and mostly focus on free, cheap, and good value days out. Do drop me an email laura@miltonkeyneskids.com if you want to contact me. Don't forget to follow all of our latest adventures on facebook, instagram and twitter and have a look at all of the videos of the places we visit on the Milton Keynes Kids YouTube Channel - subscribe to it for notifications every time I add a new place. And remember... you may been reading this post months after we visited, do check with the destination you're visiting for up to date opening times and prices. If you find this blog useful then please do comment on my posts and leave me a Facebook review - it makes doing this all the more worthwhile.
Salcey Forest
A selection of images from our visit to Salcey Forest in August 2016
