Forest bathing at Newborough Forest

Newborough Forest is a big stand of Corsican pine planted between 1947 and 1965 to hold the shifting dunes of Newborough Warren in place. It sits inside Newborough National Nature Reserve, one of the largest dune systems in Britain, with Ynys Llanddwyn and the sea on one side and the Cefni Estuary on the other. Under the pines the ground is soft sand and needles, the light is even, and the sound of the sea carries through the trees, which makes it an easy place to slow right down.

Most visitors head for the Llanddwyn Beach car park, so for a quieter start try Llyn Parc Mawr on the A4080, where a short accessible lakeside path and a gentle red squirrel trail loop through the trees. The Cwningar car park is another calmer way in. Paths are mostly flat forest roads and sandy tracks. This is a working forest, so some areas close for felling from time to time, and the beach end gets very busy on summer weekends.