A new magazine-style visitor guide for the National Forest & Beyond has been launched, packed full with ideas for family fun and tree-spirited adventures in and around The National Forest.

The guide, created with the help of sustainable tourism experts, Greentraveller, includes contributions from leading travel writers who visited the Forest and wrote about their experiences first-hand.

Adventure travel writer Paul Bloomfield headed out into the Forest for walks, woodcraft and wildlife-watching; writer Sarah Barrell and her daughter Ella loved their timber lodge at Rosliston Forestry Centre and had a great day exploring Hicks Lodge Cycle Centre, recently chosen as one of its top twenty family cycling locations by National Geographic Traveller; travel writer David Atkinson explored the heritage of the area including the National Forest Wood Fair, Calke Abbey, Snibston Discovery Centre and the National Brewery Centre in Burton upon Trent. 

The features sit amongst detailed accommodation and visitor attraction listings and provide insider tips for enjoying the Forest's hidden treasures. There is also information to encourage visitors to explore the National Forest & Beyond by public transport and lots of event details and activity suggestions.

Sophie Churchill, Chief Executive for the National Forest Company, said: "This guide is more evidence of The National Forest coming of age as a wonderful place for all visitors to enjoy. It's been great this year to have new perspectives from national writers and to see how impressed they are with the many offers of the Forest. Whether someone is visiting locally or from further afield there are new treasures to be discovered and the guide really inspires us all to explore."

Richard Hammond, Chief Executive of Greentraveller, said: "We have been delighted to contribute to this innovative visitor guide to help provide a taste of the wide range of activities in and around the Forest. Our writers have enthused about the fascinating natural and cultural heritage - both ancient and modern - and the quality of local food and leisure attractions they experienced. What's more, there's the feeling that this successful project is constantly evolving and there's always something more to discover."

The 40-page guide is available online at www.visitnationalforest.co.uk Requests for hard copy are fulfilled by Catalink, and the guide can also be picked up locally at Ashby de la Zouch and Swadlincote Tourist Information Centres and Burton upon Trent Customer Service Centre. 40,000 copies are available for distribution to individuals, Tourist Information Centres nationwide and through existing databases. The visitor guide will also be promoted as part of a dedicated Visit England Active Outdoors campaign, which will see the National Forest & Beyond profiled as a great family-friendly short break destination within key women's magazines throughout the early part of the year.

Highlights of the year to come include the opening of the National Forest Way. This new 75-mile long distance trail covers the length and breadth of the Forest from the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire to Beacon Hill Country Park in Leicestershire, and will be launched as part of the 2014 National Forest Walking Festival in May. See more about the National Forest Way at www.nationalforestway.co.uk 

The National Forest & Beyond Visitor Guide is produced by the National Forest Company in partnership with East Staffordshire Borough Council, North West Leicestershire District Council and South Derbyshire District Council.

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Media contact: Carol Rowntree Jones, Media Relations Officer, National Forest Company, on 01283 551211 email: crowntreejones@nationalforest.org

For background information on The National Forest see www.nationalforest.org Digital images are available: contact media@nationalforest.org

The National Forest Company is happy to arrange familiarisation visits for commissioned journalists; please contact Carol Rowntree Jones crowntreejones@nationalforest.org 07870 568628.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The National Forest area covers 200 square miles of the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire.  Its objective is to increase woodland cover within its boundaries from an initial six per cent to about a third. No multi-purpose forest on this scale has been created in the UK for one thousand years. To date the proportion of woodland cover in the Forest has more than trebled to 19.5 per cent and in 2012 HRH the Duke of Cambridge planted the eight millionth tree in the Forest. 

2. Year by year, The National Forest has been steadily turning what was once one of the least wooded areas of England into a multi-purpose, sustainable forest.  The National Forest provides environmental, social and economic benefits, including landscape enhancement, creation of new wildlife habitats and major new access and leisure opportunities. It is an excellent example of sustainable development - with environmental improvement providing a stimulus both to economic regeneration and to community pride and activity.

3. To achieve these objectives, the National Forest Company leads the creation of The National Forest, working in partnership with landowners, local authorities, private business, voluntary organisations and local communities and has strong support from Government, politicians and the public.  The Company receives grant in aid from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

4. The Independent Panel on Forestry, in its final report published in July 2012, stated: 'The National Forest exemplifies how a long term, resourced and focused agenda can increase publicly accessible woodland in an area alongside other environmental and economic benefits.'

5. In 2008, the National Forest Company and partners won the inaugural Sustainable Development UK Award, for their work in Ashby Woulds, at the heart of The National Forest.