Forest Holidays Reviews 

Another fantastic stay at forest of dean, already planning our next. This was our 3rd stay and it never fails to impress. From the check in to check out this place does not disappoint, the staff are friendly and always happy to help. The accommodation is an haven, you will leave being the most relaxed you have ever been.

I’m loyal to the brand because you know what you’re going to get. We are heading to Beddgelert next month and this will be our 9th or 10th stay overall in 3 years. We always stay in a Golden Oak or White Willow lodge and they are always spotless. The staff on site are always super helpful welcoming you as if you were part of the family. We stayed for a full week in June in Delamere (which is alour personal favourite) and indulged heavily in the food and drink on site all of which was fresh and delicious. We can’t praise Forest holidays enough and will always recommend them.

Having had to cancel a week's break due to illness, the cancellation charge was over £500. Being regular users booking two to three holidays per year with Forest Holidays, I mistakenly believed I was a valued customer. Wrong. Be warned. I was offered a future booking with strings attached, but I'm not sure if I will still be here, thus the cancellation.

Lovely relaxing place friendly staff but the cabin was a huge disappointment paid alot of money to stay in the golden oak. It was filthy breadcrumbs on top of toaster a poo stain down the toilet.
Tables was sticky I had to wash the table. Everything was dirty and cobwebs in places you wouldn't get them like on the ovan. In thus cost of living crises paying this much money over 1300 I expected luxury. But our family holiday was ruined die to being cabin was dirty and not looked after. My children one who is autistic found it very uncomfortable

Had a great time so peaceful. Staff were brilliant. Nice and clean. Over all a great experience and would return. Better food options needed but couldn’t complain have had worse.

We’ve had many visits to the various locations of forest holidays.
This was our first to Thorpe Forest.
Upon arriving we were greeted by a young woman who was very friendly and smiley, the next lady who gave us the cabin keys was very nice and knowledgeable and informed us of activities that may be of interest.
The cabin, this was mucky on the outside with soil of the entrance steps and had dirty windows, the decking was rotten and we were slightly concerned that we would fall through it while we were in the hot tub!
The hot tub was immaculate, perfectly fresh and clean and the hot tub guy who was maintaining was also lovely. The cabin inside was tired and not maintained great, cupboard doors in the kitchen had been screwed through the facing and didn’t fit properly, plus various other little things.
The linens were clean and beds were made correctly. The sofa was clean, maybe new, which was lovely because we’ve had a really gross smelling one in a previous cabin.

The really bad points-the kitchen smelt really bad of dog wee, like really bad fresh, just happened kind of stink-so really not nice.
The shower head in the main bathroom jet washed your skin with no way of changing the power or setting.
A truly Wonderful quiet location, a negative point was that we noticed a really bad smell when sitting outside on the decking, which we figured out was coming from the strange bags of dead wet bugs hanging on the trees in the forest.

Overall:
staff rating 4*
Cabin maintenance 1*
Cabin cleanliness 2*
Location 5*
Hot tub 5*

The prices keep rising but the cleanliness/maintenance are definitely getting worse.

Was quite disappointed when I arrived at the lodge. Very peaceful location, shaded by trees, but everything looks so tired. The lodge was very dark inside despite arriving mid afternoon on a very sunny day. Completely overshadowed by trees. Cleanliness wasnt great, cobwebs inside and out, the cooker and barbecue were both greasy (There was a rat scavenging on it!). Fourth bedroom had no bedside table or shelf, no where to put a drink/book or glasses etc. The kitchen wasnt very well thought out, some utensils that youd expect to find were absent, and there was no freezer! Only a small bottle of washing up liquid and a JCloth, completely useless when trying to get a barbecue clean before leaving. Hot tub was lovely and serviced every morning. Probably wont go back, was expensive for what it was.

Stayed in lochside cabin 30 at strathyre.

Cabin was clean, comfortable and well equipped, staff were friendly and helpful, take away food was quick and good quality, location was ideal being close to the water with a trodden path down to the water, near to calendar and a lovely welcome for our dog.

Worth noting that in July there is no view of the loch due to vegetation and there were bat boxes on the cabin above the upstairs bedroom window so we had bats in the cabin and could hear them squeeking and scrambling about all night outside. Didn’t spoil our holiday at all and we had a great time but might be useful to know.

Had a great stay and would come back!

Garwnant ! My cabin was clean and very comfortable myself and Rocky spend a month there. It was lovely. All the staff were friendly and polite and nothing was too much for them. The cafe food was also very good from sitting in to take away! The little shop will supply a few necessary evils such a goodies lol. We actually did a bit of painting Mother (71) and Daughter (51) and we were chuffed with our efforts. Would I come again? Of course making plans for next year. We found special quiet paths of park, for our dog and he now walks lead free! His recall is superb. Thank you to the crew at Forest Holidays.

This was our 4th visit to the forest and as always we had a wonderful time, friendly staff and always willing to help, we will definitely be returning in the near future.. we love it

Just love the place, lodge very clean and staff lovely food in restaurant very good coming back next week !!!! not joking.

Looked to book a cabin and received a price I was happy with. But I needed to book time off work. Visited 90 minutes later and the 4 night break had gone up by £280. Terrible experience and it’s not that desirable that I would magically find the extra money.

We recently visited Thorpe Forest and lasted just 2 days before packing up and coming home! Upon arrival at our lodge we went inside and it was filthy dirty. Cob webs everywhere, when you attempted to open windows you had to put your hands through the cob webs! The bed was broken and again dirty. The outside furniture was broken. All in all the property was tired and in need of some refurbishment / upkeep

The Trim trail walk was so disappointing. We got half way round and then had to dodge the multiple black sacks dog owners had thrown on the walkway! This was close to the roadway and several staff passed by and made no attempt to clean up the mess. I agree it shouldn't be down to them but they should then look to control the situation

We asked for a parasol for the decking and was told this is not available for health and safety reasons.

We tried to order products at the shop but were told these are not available but they had not updated their pricelist as it would mean laminating a new sheet.

The final straw for us was when we were told there may not be any water for 12 hours!

We lodged a complaint but have been told not to expect a response for 21 days!

We stayed at a cabin in Sherwood Forest. It was a really expensive stay at over £1000 for the weekend.

The maintenance in the cabin was terrible. There was hair in the bathroom sink which stopped it from draining, the dishwasher didn’t work properly, there were things missing from the kitchen, the outdoor furniture was rickety and damaged and a curtain rail fell down on my sister as she was drawing it.

I took it up with the staff on site, but eventually got really fed up with having to go up to Reception to complain so wrote to customer services. They took 10 days to get back to me without addressing all issues raised.
Very poor, considering the price.

Everything was perfect, lodge was amazing and spotless, staff were all so friendly, great place to relax

Forest Holidays are a consistently dependable brand. Both their lodges and the staff. This was our firth park and whereas the scenery changes the welcome is always the same.
Some accommodation claims to be dog friendly Forest Holidays actually are.
Well maintained and a reliable design means you feel at home at arrival.
Deer park was nicely remote but local attractions were far away.
Can’t wait to pick our next stay.

We’ve been to Forest Holidays in Delamere Forest several times now and are already booked to return in December 2025. It’s become one of our favourite UK getaways — peaceful, relaxing, and perfect for switching off from day-to-day life.

The setting is stunning. We love the calm woodland atmosphere, the relaxing walks, and the added bonus of the BBQ and hot tub, which make each stay feel like a proper treat. There’s just something about the vibe there that makes you slow down and breathe a bit deeper.

The staff have always been fantastic — friendly, helpful, and always seem to go the extra mile without making a fuss. On our last visit, we had an issue with the cabin we’d booked, and while it was a bit disappointing at the time, the way it was handled was really professional. The team took our concerns seriously and applied a generous discount to our future stay in December, which we really appreciated. Mistakes can happen anywhere, but how they’re dealt with says a lot, and in this case, we came away impressed.

If I had to be constructive, I’d say clearer communication before arrival about any last-minute changes or issues would be helpful. But overall, the experience keeps us coming back, and we genuinely look forward to each stay.

Highly recommend to anyone looking for a quiet, cosy break in nature — especially couples or dog lovers like us. Thanks again, Forest Holidays team — see you in December!

Fantastic location, amazing cabins, friendly staff, very dog friendly. Superb holiday, we will be returning. Thank you

Dangerous cabin, hidden T&C's, and unhelpful staff

In the end, we didn’t want to go on this holiday but had to (see below) but the biggest issue by far was that when we got there, the cabin inside was 35C!! And there was no way to cool it down. The cabin is poorly designed. Firstly, the radiator was on when we got there which was pumping out heat. There were switches all over the whole cabin walls and near the floor that weren’t labelled. Most weren’t anywhere near the thing they controlled so it took ages to find the one that controlled the radiator and it turned out to be hidden behind a wardrobe! Secondly, the cabin had two story tall floor to ceiling windows but only the bottom half had a curtain to pull across meaning we couldn’t block the sun streaming in to the upper 3 meters of the windows so it was a greenhouse. And of course there was no air con. It was unbearably hot. The fridge was the cheapest lowest power thing you can imagine, basically a slightly cool cupboard so we couldn’t have cold drinks to try and cool down.
The final straw was that when we got there, most of the walking paths were closed! This was not disclosed at all anywhere on the website when we booked or anytime before we set off. They knew about it because they had been closed for weeks and it was planned.
Ultimately, the holiday came down to sitting in a boiling hot cabin.
The check-in and check-out times are crazy. You lose almost all of your first day and last day of holiday due to the very late check in and very early check out time. We arrived an hour early because traffic wasn’t so bad and despite the cabin being fully ready and cleaned they made a huge fuss about us going in. Even the cleaning lady said it was all ready! So we had to wait in the boiling sun sat in our car.

My wife and I booked to stay with forest holidays in June. We have a dog with an injured leg so the plan was for us to leave our dog in the cabin with his bed, food and water, just like we do at home, and go exploring the woods and local towns for a few hours during the morning/afternoon then come back and cuddle up with our dog in the living room and balcony. We paid an extra 30%(!!) to take our dog, this theoretically covers any damage he may cause which we knew he wouldn’t because he’s an old softie that just likes to lie around.
A few days before travelling the 200 miles to get there, I phoned forest holidays to make sure everything was sorted. I said we were looking forward to relaxing with our dog. At that point the call handler informed us of a term and condition buried on page 30 or so of the incredibly long T&C’s saying that a dog cannot be left alone in the cabin! I explained that this pretty much ruins the holiday because he cannot walk and we can’t carry him for very long so we’d be stuck in the cabin. I asked what the point of paying an additional 30% for our pet was and she didn’t have an answer. I told them they should put something that important on the purchase page or the website because it definitely wasn’t there otherwise we wouldn’t have booked. The call handler said they weren’t going to do that.
The call handler was very quick to explain that was can’t back out because everything is non-refundable so we had to go.

We had a brilliant stay this weekend at Blackwood, we chose cabin 60 right at the top nestled in the forest, a huge decking with BBQ and hot tub awaited us. The retreat is small but has some lovely staff and the food was pretty good. We also hired bikes very reasonable and also did rifle shooting on Sunday. The weather was so hot but we were cool under the trees. Our dogs loved going straight out of the gate into the forest, they rarely were on the lead, this site is extremely dog friendly. Would definitely recommend.