Forest bathing at Delamere Forest

Delamere is what remains of the medieval hunting forests of Mara and Mondrem, and at around 970 hectares it is still the largest woodland in Cheshire. Today it is a mix of broadleaved and mixed woodland with blocks of conifer plantation, broken up by wet hollows. Blakemere Moss, drained two centuries ago and planted with trees, was allowed to flood again in 1998 and is now a lake about a kilometre long. Black Lake, a small quaking bog looked after by Cheshire Wildlife Trust, is quieter still.

Most people start from the Visitor Centre, where the café, toilets and Go Ape are, so the first stretch can be busy at weekends. Waymarked circular trails run from gentle forest roads to steeper routes, and walking away from the centre on the longer loops soon thins the crowds. The water around Blakemere Moss is a good place to sit for a while. Paths are mostly firm forest roads and tracks, muddier on the smaller paths after rain. Delamere station sits on the edge of the forest, a few minutes' walk from the facilities.