Salcey forest lies to the east of the village of Hartwell, between Northampton and Newport Pagnell. The wood is exploited for its timber resource and is managed by the forestry commission. The eastern third of the wood is a biological SSSI sitting on 159 hectares but has a vast range of public footpaths across the whole area.
The forest is a remnant of ancient medieval royal hunting forest with several miles of ancient woodland and building remains and lots of ancient trees. The "Druids" in Salcey are rare veteran oaks which are believed to be over 500 years old.
There are a few items of interest mainly around the café carpark, the café itself has a play area and further up is the elephant walk which was at one time, closed for the dreaded health and safety reasons but if you are able to get up the tower here, you can see right across the canopy for miles around. The elephant pond is still at Salcey and this is where circus elephants were used in the second world war to help fell and move trees and they bathed in the pond in the evenings. Salcey was once served by a railway station situated in the north of the forest near open ground and the reason for having a service was never clear as it served no settlement at all and after opening in 1892 closed in 1893 after four months laying claim to having the shortest passenger service ever provided at a British railway station. The only traces of the station are the platform remains which are intact in the undergrowth but no buildings survive.
Parking at Salcey involves paying a fee if you use the main carpark around the café area. This gets extremely busy in spring and summer along with the hotch potch of characters from the neighbouring towns with the odd feral child in tow and the occasional lunatic with lunatic dogs off leads that owner and dog are more than willing to snarl in your face. This is the downside of course but is not really an issue for us as we tend to go to the area across from the crossroads from Hartwell village on the way to Stoke Goldington. Along here, you will see a carpark "horsebox carpark" on the right coming out of the 40mph limit. Be very careful along the straight as a speed camera van often sits in the layby on this stretch and I can vouch that it very much does work as one of my Sunday morning walks was an expensive affair as doing 51mph in a 40mph limit cost me £100 and 3 points.
The upside of parking in the horsebox carpark is that the levels of abuse you get is from the horse types with a fixed glare and a bit of chuntering under ones breath. The problem was always that the horse people saw this carpark as their territory away for the massed ranks of Shaz and Wayne and the little shits with the Staffy and it is free to park. What they didn't realise that there are no signs saying that the sophisticated vizsla owners with their motor vehicles cannot park here. Of course, this has now changed as there is a charge now of around £3 which solves the problem, everyone is now happy and we move on.
As for walking here, our expert guides of Mick and Julia Evans along with Autumn and Mischa know the area very well. There is only one way to go and that is down the track. It is suitable for all types of walking and if you don't want to get muddy, then stay on the track. Heard that before in "American werewolf in London" but going off piste here I think is safe as I've never seen a werewolf. As usual in the winter months, it gets very muddy off the beaten track but is an improving picture as there has been significant improvements to the infrastructure with hardcore prepped tracks making the whole experience a pleasant one.
From the gate, head down the track and we have traditionally turn left around 300-400yards from the start. This loops around through the woods and if you follow this all the way down to the tiny little wooden bridge, take a left into the open fields next to the solar farm. From here (Sheep permitting) you can walk along the marked right of way at the bottom of the field alongside the ditch for a good 20-30mins into the last field where you can pool around going up the sharp lung bursting incline. This bit I love as especially in the spring you will often see hares and deer and then watch the Vs in hot pursuit with absolutely no chance of catching them barrelling off becoming small ginger dots into the distance. At this point, the humans catch their breath from the climb whilst watching the ginger boys and girls sprinting back up the hill in long grass which have given us some of the best video and photo captures anywhere. Heading back to the corner of the solar farm field is best done along the top of the fields giving brilliant photo opportunities. The great thing about thing about the field area is the long grass in late spring and summer giving us the classic vizsla bouncing and zooming around with exceptional photo opportunities.
You can join the track and continue along or skirt the track running parallel with it but in the trees. This is lovely part of the walk as it is undulating and the Vs go a little crazy in here. The track eventually joins up with the main track from the carpark where if you turn left and walk
for twenty or so mins , you will see pond on the left and there is one on the right further up before a cottage. There is an opportunity for dabbling in the wet stuff here and is welcome on a warm day.
If you turn right, it simply takes you back to the carpark.
Salcey is right up there as one of the best walks and can take anything for an hour to what you want to make it. It is also safe and laid back as the area we go to is mainly like minded dog walkers with no real chance of seeing the once a year day trippers.
The forest is a remnant of ancient medieval royal hunting forest with several miles of ancient woodland and building remains and lots of ancient trees. The "Druids" in Salcey are rare veteran oaks which are believed to be over 500 years old.
There are a few items of interest mainly around the café carpark, the café itself has a play area and further up is the elephant walk which was at one time, closed for the dreaded health and safety reasons but if you are able to get up the tower here, you can see right across the canopy for miles around. The elephant pond is still at Salcey and this is where circus elephants were used in the second world war to help fell and move trees and they bathed in the pond in the evenings. Salcey was once served by a railway station situated in the north of the forest near open ground and the reason for having a service was never clear as it served no settlement at all and after opening in 1892 closed in 1893 after four months laying claim to having the shortest passenger service ever provided at a British railway station. The only traces of the station are the platform remains which are intact in the undergrowth but no buildings survive.
Parking at Salcey involves paying a fee if you use the main carpark around the café area. This gets extremely busy in spring and summer along with the hotch potch of characters from the neighbouring towns with the odd feral child in tow and the occasional lunatic with lunatic dogs off leads that owner and dog are more than willing to snarl in your face. This is the downside of course but is not really an issue for us as we tend to go to the area across from the crossroads from Hartwell village on the way to Stoke Goldington. Along here, you will see a carpark "horsebox carpark" on the right coming out of the 40mph limit. Be very careful along the straight as a speed camera van often sits in the layby on this stretch and I can vouch that it very much does work as one of my Sunday morning walks was an expensive affair as doing 51mph in a 40mph limit cost me £100 and 3 points.
The upside of parking in the horsebox carpark is that the levels of abuse you get is from the horse types with a fixed glare and a bit of chuntering under ones breath. The problem was always that the horse people saw this carpark as their territory away for the massed ranks of Shaz and Wayne and the little shits with the Staffy and it is free to park. What they didn't realise that there are no signs saying that the sophisticated vizsla owners with their motor vehicles cannot park here. Of course, this has now changed as there is a charge now of around £3 which solves the problem, everyone is now happy and we move on.
As for walking here, our expert guides of Mick and Julia Evans along with Autumn and Mischa know the area very well. There is only one way to go and that is down the track. It is suitable for all types of walking and if you don't want to get muddy, then stay on the track. Heard that before in "American werewolf in London" but going off piste here I think is safe as I've never seen a werewolf. As usual in the winter months, it gets very muddy off the beaten track but is an improving picture as there has been significant improvements to the infrastructure with hardcore prepped tracks making the whole experience a pleasant one.
From the gate, head down the track and we have traditionally turn left around 300-400yards from the start. This loops around through the woods and if you follow this all the way down to the tiny little wooden bridge, take a left into the open fields next to the solar farm. From here (Sheep permitting) you can walk along the marked right of way at the bottom of the field alongside the ditch for a good 20-30mins into the last field where you can pool around going up the sharp lung bursting incline. This bit I love as especially in the spring you will often see hares and deer and then watch the Vs in hot pursuit with absolutely no chance of catching them barrelling off becoming small ginger dots into the distance. At this point, the humans catch their breath from the climb whilst watching the ginger boys and girls sprinting back up the hill in long grass which have given us some of the best video and photo captures anywhere. Heading back to the corner of the solar farm field is best done along the top of the fields giving brilliant photo opportunities. The great thing about thing about the field area is the long grass in late spring and summer giving us the classic vizsla bouncing and zooming around with exceptional photo opportunities.
You can join the track and continue along or skirt the track running parallel with it but in the trees. This is lovely part of the walk as it is undulating and the Vs go a little crazy in here. The track eventually joins up with the main track from the carpark where if you turn left and walk
for twenty or so mins , you will see pond on the left and there is one on the right further up before a cottage. There is an opportunity for dabbling in the wet stuff here and is welcome on a warm day.
If you turn right, it simply takes you back to the carpark.
Salcey is right up there as one of the best walks and can take anything for an hour to what you want to make it. It is also safe and laid back as the area we go to is mainly like minded dog walkers with no real chance of seeing the once a year day trippers.
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