Parking
Start at Pandy car park. Parking is free and overnight parking is not permitted. From the access road, pass the small Blue Badge-only Forest Garden car park and continue about 150 m uphill; Pandy car park is on the left.
Overview
About Forest Garden Discovery Trail
Why go
- Short woodland loop with bridge, viewpoint and interpretive posts
- World trees and folklore audio posts add interest
Heads up
- Some formal and informal paths are steep and uneven
- Not the separate accessible Forest Garden route
Map & elevation
The route
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Eryri Tour Guide
Your drive to Forest Garden Discovery Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Eryri National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this area
Glasdir Copper Trail0:00 / 0:27
“You're approaching Glasdir Car Park, the start of the Copper Trail through old mine terraces above the Afon Babi gorge.”
Plays on the road 0.7 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Eryri Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Tails in the Fir Cones
- The Haunted Oak of Nannau
- The Oil Trick at Glasdir
- Precipice Walk and Llyn Cynwch
- 298 audio storiesacross Eryri’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Grey Heron, Tawny Owl, Common Raven, and 9 more
- Works offlinemaps, 120 trails, 82 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Forest Garden Discovery Trail
The routeA short circular loop on the green waymarked 8b route, also signed as Llwybr Darganfod yr Ardd…
A short circular loop on the green waymarked 8b route, also signed as Llwybr Darganfod yr Ardd Goedwig. Distances follow the official visitor figure: 0.4 miles / 0.6 km, with 82 feet / 25 m of climb and about 45 minutes walking, graded Easy.
Start and finish at Pandy car park. The walk drops down the access track to the bridge over Afon Babi, climbs to the viewpoint, then wanders the Forest Garden's formal and informal paths before retracing the access corridor back to the car park.
Footing and effortThis 8b route is not wheelchair accessible.
This 8b route is not wheelchair accessible.
- Paths are a series of formal and informal tracks roughly 1 m wide.
- Some sections are steep and uneven, so wear shoes with grip.
- No steps or stiles anywhere on the loop.
- The bridge sits beside running water, worth keeping in mind with young children.
What you will seeTrees collected from around the world, a viewpoint over the surrounding forest, and the wooded…
Trees collected from around the world, a viewpoint over the surrounding forest, and the wooded stream and waterfall setting at Afon Babi. Along the way there are tree-fact posts and wind-up audio posts telling local folklore stories, which make the short distance stretch out nicely.
Getting there and parkingPandy car park is the correct start, and parking is free. No overnight parking.
Pandy car park is the correct start, and parking is free. No overnight parking. The approach is a rural road. Coming in along the access road, pass the small Blue Badge only Forest Garden car park and continue about 150 m uphill; Pandy car park is on the left.
DogsNatural Resources Wales welcomes dogs at its woodlands and reserves, subject to local…
Natural Resources Wales welcomes dogs at its woodlands and reserves, subject to local restrictions. Keep your dog in sight and under control, and on a lead where signs ask for it.
If you need a flatter optionThe separate blue waymarked 8a Forest Garden Trail, starting from the Forest Garden car park,…
The separate blue waymarked 8a Forest Garden Trail, starting from the Forest Garden car park, is flat, well surfaced and accessible, covering 300 m in about 20 minutes. It is the better choice if steep, uneven ground is a problem.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Eryri
77 sightingsGrey HeronMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
17 sightingsTawny OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
32 sightingsCommon RavenMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
21 sightingsGreat Spotted WoodpeckerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
18 sightingsEuropean RabbitMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
161 sightingsViviparous LizardMost seen around 10 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Eryri. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
