Forest School at Broxtowe Country Park, Wednesday mornings, free

Update July 2017: This group has finished for the time being, as the ranger has moved to a different park. You can check the Facebook page to see if it’s re-starting in another location.


Date: Wednesday mornings in term time.

Time: 10am to 12 noon.

Venue: Meet by the gate of Phoenix Park Adventure Playground, 52a, Westleigh Road, Nottingham, NG8 6JY.

Venue update: “the meeting location has now changed. It is now at the new park entrance, by the BMX track. Postcode: NG8 6GT“. I.e. the entrance at the end of Alwyn Road, where it meets Woodfield Road & Lindfield Road.

Area: Edge of Broxtowe Country Park, Broxtowe.

Age range: “Any age, but need to be able to concentrate and follow guidance, as we may have fire, tools etc.”

Price: Free, as it’s run by a Park Ranger.

Organiser: alastair dot glenn at nottinghamcity dot gov dot uk.

Facebook page for Forest School at Broxtowe Country Park

Booking: No need to book, just turn up. The Facebook page is visible to anyone, whether or not they’ve got a Facebook account, so you may want to have a look first to see if there’s anything special happening that week, or check for last-minute cancellations.

A path ahead is blocked by a bright green metalwork double gate made of plant-like shapes. Above the gate is a decorative metal sign reading "Phoenix Adventure Playground". To the right is an opening where a person could walk through but bike handlebars would be stopped by the metal frame. The edges of two houses show, one each side of the path. Trees are silhouetted in the distance. A less decorative sign in the background labels it as "Broxtowe Country Park and Phoenix Adventure Play Area", and shows some icons, but the icons are too far away to decode properly by this photo.

From Alastair, the Park Ranger:

Term time, Wednesdays 10am-12pm.

Run by Broxtowe Park Ranger Alastair Glenn. I have much more experience running activities for older children (10yrs+) but anybody is welcome and hopefully we can learn and have fun together!

From a home ed parent:

It’s our favourite activity during the week! Very nice to be in a wild park, in a different age group of home ed kids, and do some nature crafts and educational projects, games and free play. Welcome!

From another home ed parent:

We really love it. The kids have really got into it. We don’t make it every week, but they miss it if we don’t.

Alistair is great with my very shy kids. He has encouraged them and engaged with them. When we go, they talk about it for the rest of the day.

Physical access:

Mostly off the path, may be rough/wet ground. No toilets on site (plenty of trees).

Map showing the entrance to the park that’s the (updated) meetup point:

Full page larger map of the same thing.

Nearest bus stops (updated to reflect new meeting point): “Denton Green”, on the 78 route, Turquoise Line, or “Coleby Road Top” which is on either the 78 route or the 35 bus, Orange Line. These are about 300 yards from the park entrance meetup point, near the roundabout at the other end of Alwyn Road.

(Note that some families will already know that roundabout as the home of Nottingham City Gymnastics Club.)

Next nearest: The 77 bus, Turquoise Line, stops at “Flamsteed Road”, about 800 yards west of the meetup point.

Parking: There’s on-street parking on nearby roads.