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Opening Times:

April to September
11:00 am - 4:00 pm

October to March
11:00 am - 3:00 PM

Ordnance Survey Ref: SK472 595
(Land Ranger Sheet 120)

Brierly Forest Park has been given the Green Flag Award.

Brierley Forest Park Visitor Centre was opened in December 1999 and is located at the end of Skegby Road in Huthwaite.

The Centre has full access for disabled people including free wheelchair hire. Information on some beautiful routes around the park suitable for wheelchair users is available.

The Park, 100 hectares (250 acres), provides many trails, nature conservation areas, recreation facilities (such as a golf club and a football pitch), art and sculptures, and areas of local historical interest.
The Park was launched in May 1994, marked by the pit wheels from Sutton colliery installed in the park.

The most outstanding feature of Sutton colliery was the pit tip that smouldered and glowed red at night time. Buried deep under the spoil heap was Brierley Pond once alive with minnows, sticklebacks, newts, tadpoles and frogs. Take a walk up Rooley Lane towards the site of the old railway bridge and the former mine. The miners would walk this route each day up to Sutton Colliery.

The grey mound that was clearly visible from around the park has now been transformed by the planting of trees.

Wildflower meadows have been sown with native species such as yarrow and ox-eye daisy, and wetland areas created.

A wide variety of wildlife now flourishes, for example a large population of skylarks nest on the spoil tip. Other residents include foxes, owls, meadow pipits and lapwings.

There is a Ranger Office at Brierley Forest Park Visitors Centre. The centre offers refreshments, exhibitions and information. The forest is acclaimed as the largest urban community forest in the East Midlands.

select for information on Ashfield's Ranger Service

Friends of Brierley Forest Park web-pages