Forest bathing at Deans Wood, Livingston

Deans Wood is a Woodland Trust site of 16 hectares on the northern edge of Livingston, made up of six blocks of woodland between the M8 and the Deans area. The woods appear on the 1860 Ordnance Survey map and are long-established plantation woodland; the eastern blocks were part of the grounds of Dechmont House, built in 1863 and since demolished, whose stone gate posts still stand at Woodlands Park. Scots pine, birch, rowan, sycamore, horse chestnut and holly grow here, and roe deer, foxes and stoats live in the woods.

This is very much a neighbourhood wood, reached from surrounding streets with mostly barrier-free entrances, so it suits a short, easy visit. Livingston North station is about a kilometre away. The Loan Path links it north to North Wood and Dechmont Law if you want to join two woods into a longer walk. Paths are unsurfaced and can be muddy. There is no car park, but there is plenty of on-street parking at Middlewood Park.