← All Marlborough Downs and Savernake Forest spots
Photo: Brian Robert Marshall · CC BY-SA 2.0
Lockeridge · Forestry England

West Woods

Our verdict

One of the best bluebell woods in Wiltshire, and genuinely accessible thanks to the easy-access route — worth timing a visit for peak bloom, though it gets busy on fine spring weekends as a result. The Marlborough Lions open the woods to cars on two 'Bluebell Sundays' a year for easier access to the flowers.

Nearly 400 hectares of ancient beech woodland south-west of Marlborough, once part of the Royal Hunting Forest that also gave rise to Savernake. Famous for its bluebells in April and May, when the woodland floor turns a solid carpet of blue, with a good network of trails including an easy-access route suitable for prams, pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Public forest — open access on the tracks; mind working-forest signs.

Where it is