Hamsterley Forest Development Plans

Have people seen this?

https://www.forestryengland.uk/future-plans-hamsterley

Is it going to be like Glentress where it’s possibly to the detriment of the mountain biking? Are there any plans to invest in building trails. It’s come a long way since I first went there nearly 20 years ago. Kielder, the other centre I consider local hasn’t faired so well. Even before Arwen.

Wow! That’s a huge development plan. At the risk of getting all ‘I remember when it was all fields’, I do hope it doesn’t ruin it. Sounds Dalby scale but in a much smaller area! That said, it definitely needs better toilets.

Oh dear…it’ll hopefully help the local area but suspect it’ll change the mountain biking there – may not be a bad thing, but suspect it will be detrimental for mountain bikers that want more than family trails.
For the locals it’ll hopefully create more jobs, maybe also encourage a wider range of visitors.
Or it could be utterly shambolic – hopefully it won’t be that.

I don’t think the plans are terrible for MTB. Work on the new blue has started (although based on recent English forestry trail centre works I would expect a cat litter topped flow trail not suited to riding fast or slow more likely than not), and the area of the plans is reasonably compact and wont effect the trails too much, however there are some issues I foresee:

#1 the 20% charge on activities in the forest is already hurting independents and retailers alike. If FE pursue this policy on the new site it will mean the bike hub will never open – no one can afford a 20% surcharge on their pricing.

#2 the forest isn’t interesting enough, big enough, or in an interesting enough area to sustain expensive forest cabins. It’s just not a touristy enough area and while the landscape to the west is attractive in a bleak kind of way, its freezing cold half the year and wet, windy or wet and windy the other half which what keeps it bleak and uninhabited, but also not that appealing to posh cabin dwellers.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Hamsterley and I don’t actually mind the new plans, I think the Go Ape will add a lot, I know me and my kids will use it from time to time, but I think the forest cabins are going to struggle and I can’t see any of the new developments having a specifically positive impact on the MTB side, neutral at best.

The plans also face big challenges from the residents of the forest, there’s actually quite a number of people who live in the forest and will be directly impacted by the plans, while the planning will be minded to approve things that positively impact tourism, its hard to argue they wont have a significant negative impact on residents.

I didn’t know about the blue, that will be good. I do agree its a small area. The moors are good but not viable year round as conditions can be very challenging (ground and weather).

The 20% thing on events is a problem (not just there). I know we looked at holding an XCO there and it made it  non-viable at the level we were pitching (regional league). For a grass roots style race it would make it really expensive and we couldn’t provide all the “event village” style entertainment to make it value for money, nor could we attract sponsors to help with costs. I understand it has killed off other (bigger) events as well.

I don’t ride the Descend stuff. My understanding is that, that is all separate and membership paid for separately? Given the way mountain bike is going it would be nice if places started to include more “enduro style” riding. Even most of the blacks at trail centres are tame by modern standards. They haven’t got any harder and bikes have got a lot more capable.

Fingers crossed it adds net benefit to both riders and the wider community/forest.

Work on the new blue has started 

Where in the forest is this being built?

I’ve only had a quick look at the plans on one of the notices in the forest but it did look like a few of the off piste trails will be removed to build the cabins/lodges. Personally I don’t see the area being popular enough to justify building 70 of them and if the prices are similar to those I’ve been told Glentress are going to charge I can’t see it working at all but the Go Ape thing should be popular enough

I’m not certain where it goes entirely but I know it is a lot on the pikes teeth side, just lower down.

I’m so glad that was extensively advertised. A simple email to us Hamsterley Forest members and occasional volunteers might have been good, so we could, you know, attend the public drop in sessions. FFS.

The visitor centre needs updating sure, it’s basically a scout hut and is literally rotting away. No doubt they’ll evict the current cafe operators following a tendering process as the food is too good, to be replaced by some 3663/sodexo-supplied conglomerate.

It’s not the most obvious place for a forest holiday, however both Teasdale and Weardale are riddled with caravan parks that are regularly full to the rim during school holidays. It gets damned cold there in the winter, which can extend until late May from experience and there’s absolutely nothing nearby food wise after about 6pm except perhaps the Spar in Wolsingham. There’s been many a night after a night ride where we’ve sought out the nearest cafe and ended up in Mcsh1t in Stanley.

They really need to make more of a fuss about the orginal world cup winners up that way as well!

Having clicked on the “hamsterley future plans” page, I cannot see any actual plans – has anyone got a link?

Having clicked on the “hamsterley future plans” page, I cannot see any actual plans – has anyone got a link?

Click on the ‘proposals’  link in the future plans link above

I saw this on a random Google news feed. Given I follow all sorts of cycling and local groups I saw nothing. I also don’t recall anything obvious in the forest itself? It was just by chance I noticed it. I assumed someone more local and the Trailblazers would be fully up to speed having been consulted…

Cheers Pothead. For some reason the page on my laptop is different to the page on my phone. I can see all links and photos on my phone but not on my laptop. I’ll look now and will no doubt be back with my comments!

First I’ve heard of this, I’ve been up there ten or twelve times this year and am a member, but knew nothing.

Hamsterley would definitely benefit from a decent blue as the current one is rubbish and the step from it to the likes of Transmission (red) seems a bit steep, particularly for newer riders.

There’ll be hell to pay if the cafe operator loses the tender though, our lass loves a corned beef and onion toastie to round out a ride.

I’m a member and had heard rumours about this a while back from one of the mtb coaches, which leads me to think that interest groups have been consulted. As far as I know, GoApe will be based at the western end of the main area by the visitor centre. A large chunk of the area below Pikes Teeth will be forest holidays – so assuming Pikes Teeth is still open you’d be cycling up past the lodges. Does make me worry a bit about people straying onto the routes though.

We quite like the food in the cafe, but the service is a bit slow sometimes.