It’s so dark, it makes no difference whether my eyes are closed or open. The only sound is breathing and a faint ripple when I weightlessly shift position in the salt-laden, skin-warm fluid. Inside an egg-shaped pod at Float in the Forest, one of my personal nightmares (being left alone for an hour with my own thoughts and no distractions) turns out to be a strange, peaceful experience, where time is condensed and space expands. Initially sceptical, my husband, Luke, also emerges from his pod and declares the experience “profoundly relaxing as few things are” (£60, book ahead).
We’re visiting the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire for a car-free spring break and our hotel is a leafy 15-minute bus ride from the flotation centre. Thrice-daily bus 27 is cash only with no number on the front (just the company name FR Willetts), and people greet each other as they board. We chat to Julia, “born and bred a forester and proud of it”, who tells us: “Town people are weird. They don’t understand the slow pace of country life.” As if to prove her point, at that moment the bus detours carefully round a sheep with two new lambs suckling unconcernedly in the middle of the road.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Inside an egg-shaped pod at Float in the Forest, one of my personal nightmares (being left alone for an hour with my own thoughts and no distractions) turns out to be a strange, peaceful experience, where time is condensed and space expands.
They don’t understand the slow pace of country life.” As if to prove her point, at that moment the bus detours carefully round a sheep with two new lambs suckling unconcernedly in the middle of the road.
Breakfast is served in the courtroom with its stone fireplace, wall-mounted antlers, original carved oak chairs (chained to the wall since they were stolen in 2005) and copies of the 1221 Verderers’ charter over the coffee pot.
From the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, a mile from Speech House, a network of family-friendly circuits and trails crisscross the wooded slopes (pre-book bike hire from £25 or £45 for e-bikes).
Visitor numbers are dwindling at Clearwell, but the caves are certainly worth visiting, with displays across 10 varied caverns featuring sound recordings of now-dead miners or ghostly projections of prehistoric fish across a floodlit underground pool (£12/£10 for adults/children).
From Speech House, you can also catch bus 24 to Coleford, perhaps picking up a picnic at one of the shops there, such as the Crusty Loaf Bakery (great spicy veg pasty) or the Forest Deli (wild boar scotch eggs), before hiking a half-mile down the B4228 to Puzzlewood.
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