Woodlands

Gwynedd Council manages a network of Gwynedd woodlands, which are open to the public all year round. 

The main access point to Coed Doctor is on your left as you walk along Llanberis high street towards Coed y Glyn. The path is not suitable for wheelchairs.

Coed Doctor is a unique quiet woodland site which includes oak woodland, pools and wet woodland and an open area. It is packed full of history and wildlife and is a superb place for walking and relaxing. You can see remnants of the early and modern quarrying / mining industry, as well as a variety of woodland birds and rare mammals such as bats, badgers, frogs and brown trout in the Tomos Lewis lake. 

Access to the site can be gained from either the town’s high street, down between the former bakers and Bethesda chapel (SH 623 667). Or from the other end of the footpath which begins near Grisiau Cochion cottages (SH 620 662).

This magnificent woodland is located within a stone’s throw distance away from the town centre of Bethesda. The whole site is protected by a tree preservation order - as some of the trees are ancient. A variety of interesting animals and plants can be seen in the woodland, including – Otters, Tawny Owl, the lesser spotted woodpecker, Nuthatch, Wood Anemone and more. 

Access can be gained from Tremadog village (SH 563 400), or from the lay-by on the A487T (SH 565 397). The majority of the footpath network is on even ground.

The woodland lies on land that used to be part of the Glaslyn estuary. William Alexander Maddocks acquired and drained this land between 1800 and 1806, as part of his ambitious project to reclaim more than 5,000 acres from the sea, and build the Cob embankment t over the treacherous sands at Traeth Mawr. Maddocks established a tree nursery to supply timber to local ship building yards, and it flourish until management ceased sometime in the 1920's. Today, the woodland which is approximately 10 hectares, still displays tell tail signs from it nursery past - rows of ditches and trees planted in lines. 

Wern Mynach woodland is located in Barmouth town centre, not far from the football field.

The Cistercian monks monks from the Cymer Abbey, Llanelltyd would bring their animals to Barmouth over winter to graze on the Wern's salty marshes. There are number of places in Barmouth which have been named after the monks. After the construction of the railway back in 1886, small lakes were formed at the site. A monk gave the land to the residents of Barmouth for their recreation. A football pitch was built on the site, and the rest of the land was made a landfill site. In 2005 this urban green site was created, hundreds of trees were planted, including oak, apple trees, mountain ash, broom willow, wild flowers which attract insects, birds and animals.