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№ 05Woodland · Gloucestershire, England

Puzzlewood

Fourteen acres of moss-drowned ravines and twisted yews that filmmakers borrow when they need another planet.

A dark ravine in Puzzlewood, its rocks and fallen boughs drowned in deep green moss, with a pale shaft of daylight falling into the hollow between the trees.
Pl. ILight falls into the scowles
A narrow muddy path threads between towering moss-covered scowle rock walls at Puzzlewood, bare winter branches crossing the white sky above.
Pl. IIMoss walls of an ancient ravine
A bare-earth path with a rustic wooden handrail curves between huge moss-blanketed boulders in the green half-light of Puzzlewood.
Pl. IIIWooden rails through the scowles

Photographs Neil Barnwell from UK (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Andy Dingley (CC BY-SA 3.0) · George Boyce from Monmouth, UK (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons

Puzzlewood grew over scowles — iron-ore workings mined since before the Romans — and the result looks designed by someone with an overactive imagination: rock mazes, root staircases, gullies deep in moss, and a mile of winding paths threading through it all.

Doctor Who, Merlin and Star Wars: The Force Awakens have all filmed here, and it's often claimed Tolkien took inspiration from these woods. That one's unproven — but stand in the middle of it and you understand why the rumour refuses to die.

Field notes

The knowledge

Getting there
Just south of Coleford in the Forest of Dean; paid entry, open roughly February to November.
Best time
After rain in spring or autumn, when the moss glows and the coach parties thin out.
Local tip
Arrive at opening time — by mid-morning in the school holidays the magic has to be shared.
Field position51.7770° N · 2.6180° W

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