Since we took back ownership of the Wilderness Centre for the local community in the Forest of Dean at the beginning of August, we have been busy. Repairs and upgrades of the main building are underway thanks to our crowdfunder, and replacements for worn equipment used for outdoor activities have been ordered in. We have also just finished in draft our habitat development plan ‘Our Wilder Wilderness’. This is key. This is the plan to breathe new life into the Wilderness Centre. It will guide everything we do from now on. If you’re planning to visit here in any capacity then your feedback on it is important. We want it to be inspirational, but also relatable and very practical. There is plenty of local knowledge that has its place in such a plan. We are planning a series of events at which local people can have their say.

Click the link above for the overview; but if the detail interests you order the full plan and we will email it to you. We would like to become the destination in the Forest of Dean for nature connection: the place for raising our understanding of how nature works in a way that you can take that understanding wherever you go.

Well be announcing opportunities to volunteer very soon!

Of course, our main business continues to be with schools coming on their residentials. Our priority is to keep the children safe and stimulated.

Our Long Term Vision

Wylderne is an evolution of the outdoor activities and residential experience that the Wilderness has offered for over 50 years.

Our vision is now to be a learning centre for the whole Forest community. One way of describing what we’re becoming is to call us a ‘bioregioning’ centre

You can read more about bioregioning here.

Suffice to say, given its facilities, history and ecological vitality the Wilderness is a natural hub for people to connect with each other, and with Nature.

Children and young people are at the heart of our vision. Building thriving lives through good mental and physical health with an appreciation of how the natural world works will be a central theme in Wylderne’s programmes and activities.

There is untapped potential here in the Forest, a place between three rivers: the Severn, the Wye and the Leadon. While it is an ‘edge’ place, sometimes forgotten, against the ancient boundary between England and Wales, it has also always been a ‘working forest’. And a place which from time to time has played a central role in the story of the whole country. You could add the wider world, too, for the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution was here in the lower Wye Valley. What role might it take now, given we are moving towards a greener economy? The Wilderness, as a Forest-wide learning centre could be where we find this out.