Galloway Forest Park

Galloway Forest Park
Corserine and the Rhinns of Kells as seen from Craignaw in winter, showing areas of Sitka Spruce plantation.
A map showing the location of the Galloway Forest Park (in red) in south west Scotland.
Location	Dumfries and Galloway
Area	774 km2 (299 sq mi)[1]
Established	1947
Governing body	Forestry and Land Scotland
Website	Galloway Forest Park

55°07′26″N 4°25′26″W / 55.123861°N 4.423901°W / 55.123861; -4.423901 Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in the historic counties of Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire in the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted Dark Sky Park status ("Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park") in November 2009, being the first area in the UK to be so designated.^[2]

The park, established in 1947, covers 774 square kilometres (299 sq mi)^[1] and receives over 800,000 visitors per year. The three visitor centres at Glen Trool, Kirroughtree, and Clatteringshaws receive around 150,000 each year. Much of the Galloway Hills lie within the boundaries of the park and there is good but rough hillwalking and also some rock climbing and ice-climbing within the park. Within or near the boundaries of the park are several well developed mountain bike tracks, forming part of the 7stanes project.

As well as catering for recreation, the park includes economically valuable woodland, producing 500,000 tons of timber per year.

Galloway Forest Park and the people who visit it and work in it were the subject of a six-part BBC One documentary series aired in early 2018 entitled "The Forest".^[3]