Dean Forest Railway & Heritage Centre

The Dean Heritage Centre is at Soudley and has some five acres of enchanting displays and demonstrations, both outside and inside.  We started our visit with a tour of...

...the five museum galleries which tell the story of the Forest of Dean from the ice age to the present day.  Ah, there's Mike looking at the displays in the pre-historic gallery, hmmm .. pretty fitting really!

Gallery 3 at Dean Heritage Centre, called Industry & Society, featured various crafts such as carpentry and blacksmithing plus an enlightening section on the Forest of Dean's coal mining heritage, providing a fascinating glimpse into a miner's life.  Moving on...

...to Power and Transport in Gallery 5 with various exhibits demonstrating the use of steam power from the 1800s.  To the rear in our pic is a working Beam Engine, made in the iron foundry at Camp Mill, previously on the site as the museum is now.

Mike couldn't resist trying out the hands on model showing how a Beam Engine worked...

...while Belinda couldn't resist having a go at being a schoolmistress in the Victorian school room!

No heritage museum is complete without a reconstructed dwelling and Dean Heritage Centre's offering is this Victorian Forester's cottage complete with kitchen, two bedrooms upstairs and a garden.

Waterwheels were once used to provide mechanical power to drive Victorian machinery; this one at Dean Heritage Centre generates electricity for the museum and feeds any excess to the grid.  Nice one!

The picturesque mill pond has picnic tables around; there's also a café, schools education centre and research library.  Dean Heritage Centre adult entry was £7.20 on our visit, but we used supermarket rewards vouchers.

Harvey's Folly Freemine represents a traditional Forest of Dean coal mine as dug by Freeminers but we were a little disappointed as the entrance went nowhere, the mine truck was static and there was little information here about the Freemine or miners.

The short forestry trail goes through oak and beech woods, typical of the Forest of Dean, and made a pleasant short walk.  Well, our visit to the Dean Heritage Centre was most enjoyable but...

...unfortunately we missed the chainsaw carving demonstrations but were able to admire some of the carver's previous artistic creations at the centre.  Our tip: when visiting, check the demonstration times!

A steam train ride through the beautiful Royal Forest of Dean sounded appealing so we headed to Norchard, the main station of the preserved Dean Forest Railway (DFR).  The line runs from Lydney in the south up to Parkend and our 'rover' ticket (£11) allowed unlimited travel enabling us to ride the whole line.  First up though was a look around the...

...interesting looking railway museum...

...which was well stocked with over 1000 artefacts of railway heritage from the Severn and Wye Valley Railway, of which the DFR route was once part.

The lower level platform at Norchard Station was well decked out with historic station signs, while lined on the tracks were some fine looking vintage rail wagons.

Trains run on Norchard's upper level which sadly didn't have much bygone station decoration.  Here the moving steam train driver is being passed the token which allows the train to proceed on its way north...

...up the line to Parkend, but not before we got on of course!  We were able to observe the run-round procedure from the period footbridge over the tracks at Parkend where the locomotive is moved...

...to the other end and coupled up to the carriages for the return journey.  As you may expect the Dean Forest Railway steams through some splendid Forest of Dean scenery which passed by...

...the window of the restored railway carriage while we ate our picnic lunch and listened to the steam engine chuffing away together with an occasional blast of the whistle on the way to...

...Lydney Junction at the southern end of the Dean Forest Railway's 4½ mile line.  The line used to run a little further to Lydney Harbour at the River Severn, the route of which can be walked...

...along the track bed, so not to pass up a view of the mighty Severn off we went!  At the Severn we were able to see the span of the dramatic Severn road bridge through the hot day's 32° heat haze before...

...returning to Lydney Junction to catch the train back to Norchard.  That's the steam engine being backed onto the carriages in our pic above.  Well, we didn't get everything in; we missed the locomotive restoration shed at the Dean Forest Railway's Norchard Station, but did see some wagons being worked on on the tracks and enjoyed a coffee in the new café there.  OK, just time then for a quick...

...view inside the steam locomotive's cab before...

...the Dean Forest Railway steam train departed Lydney Junction to take us back to Norchard.

We thought the The Dean Forest Railway and Dean Heritage Centre both worthy days out in the Forest of Dean; other attractions we visited were beautiful Symonds Yat and the the iron ore mine at Clearwell Caves.  And there's plenty others too: such as Hopewell Colliery coal mine and Littledean Jail, and for younger visitors Perrygrove Railway Treetop Adventure and Puzzlewood.  And as you might expect there's many forest trails for walking, biking and horse riding plus activities like canoeing and rock climbing.

For more on what the Royal Forest of Dean and Wye Valley has to offer see our UK tourism resources.