Our good friends Tim and Georgie invited us to join then for the weekend at the Forest Holidays complex at Coleford in the Forest of Dean close to the English/Welsh border.

Arriving in the wooded park that makes up the site we were pleased to see a rather smart three bedroom wooden cabin complete with all mod cons and a hot-tub. The site also had a shop, bar/restaurant (called the Forest Lodge) and was close to many walking trails that could be accessed without needing a car.

Our Friday evening meal was taken at the Forest Lodge and even though the menu was fairly limited, the food portion sizes were not. A slow stroll back to the cabin was needed before a few more drinks and the introduction to a new game called 'Cards against Humanity' - something that Heather seemed to be hooked on by the end of the evening!

Sadly on Saturday morning the weather was poor so an indoor type activity was required. The Dean Forest Railway was located about 15 minutes drive from the cabin and by the end of the round trip (about an hour and a half) on the steam railway the weather had improved sufficiently for us to take in a walk around the Forest of Dean Sculpture Park.

To be honest we struggled to find somewhere that really appealed for dinner on Saturday evening. Many of the local pubs didn't really give us much enthusiasm, but a chance find of Andersen's Restaurant in Coleford, hit the mark.

The food was really well presented, very tasty and portion size was generous. The restaurant itself, located in a small boutique style hotel, had a really nice feel about it and there was friendly/attentive service too. "One of the best ever meals I have had" was mentioned by Georgie, so Andersen's certainly got the seal of approval.

With the sun shining through the trees on Sunday morning we made a beeline to the on-site Forest Lodge for breakfast. My Rangers Breakfast, costing £9.95, was a gut filler and meant that I skipped lunch too - although I did manage a slice of cake later in the day.

Following breakfast we started the two and a bit mile walk from the forest cabin to Symonds Yat overlooking the River Wye. This was a first time visit for all of us and the path to/from Symonds Yat was fairly graded (mostly) and well maintained with us taking about an hour to amble in each direction. The Forestry Commission seem to do a good job with the footpaths in this area.

Before we headed back to Derby on the Sunday afternoon - Tim and Georgie were staying for an additional night - we visited Clearwell Caves. These caves, which were also mined in the past for iron ore, turned out to be another interesting place to visit. There was enough information to help you appreciate the hardship of the miners, but also enough information to help you understand the geological make up too. It also didn't seem to be a place that was totally sanitised by 'elf and safety' and that also made a nice change - as did the fact that we had the caves pretty much to ourselves.

That just left us to drive back to Derby and following the sat-nav we turned left out of Clearwell Caves, popped through a slither of Wales, and then onto the A40/M50 heading towards the Midlands getting us back home in around two and a half hours.

Overall it was a really enjoyable weekend, it was nice to catch up with Tim and Georgie and also enjoy some time in the great outdoors too.

More photographs available in the Forest of Dean album in the Photos area of my travel blog