Businesses thrive in the nation's forests
Forestry England have a diverse range of recreation businesses operating in the nation's forests. From cafes to ice cream and burger mobile catering, gift shops to bike hire and Segways. Team building activities, external training courses and paintballing to seasonal business such as Christmas tree sales. The variety and quality of the businesses we work with help to make the nation's forests special places to visit.
Explore current opportunities below or get in touch to propose something new.
Current Opportunities:
Haldon Forest Park Cafe Concession
Forestry England is seeking expressions of interest from operators wishing to provide a cafe concession at Haldon Forest Park.
The popular visitor attraction https://www.forestryengland.uk/haldon-forest-park hosts over 500,000 visits annually with the cafe serving an important part of the visitor offer. The cafe is a memorable experience for seasonal visitors and a vibrant hub for our community of regular visitors.
The cafe lease area contains approximately 35 indoor covers and 36 outdoor covers, with the potential to house more indoor seating in an adjacent studio. There is further picnic table seating nearby for 100 persons.
Currently we anticipate the lease period being 5 years in duration with extension options of 1 year + 1 year, the lease Heads of Terms will be available in the tender documents which we expect to be published August 2025.
The total value of the lease opportunity over the term is expected to be in the region of £5 million.
We are seeking an operator to commence the lease in March 2026 with the concession opening to the public by the beginning of April 2026.
Expressions of interest should be submitted by 31 July 2025 via email to sam.harris@forestryengland.uk
Hole Farm Cafe Concession
Forestry England is seeking expressions of interest for a brand-new takeaway cafe facility for the new community woodland at Hole Farm, Great Warley (CM13 3JD). Hole Farm is owned by National Highways and is being developed into a new community woodland that will be managed by Forestry England. The site is situated within the Thames Chase Community Forest, with popular sites such as Thorndon Country Park and Weald Country Park nearby.
We expect the lease to commence in October 2025. Prospective suppliers are invited to express an interest in this opportunity which should be submitted electronically through the Delta eSourcing portal via this link: https://forestryengland.delta-esourcing.com/respond/KDZVB4EKFU
Closing date 30 June 2025.
Rendlesham Forest Cafe Concession
Forestry England is currently seeking tenders from operators wanting to operate a cafe concession at our site in Rendlesham Forest, within our East England Forest District.
Prospective suppliers are invited to express an interest in this opportunity which should be submitted electronically through the Delta eSourcing portal via this link
Deadline for tender submissions is midday 14th July 2025.
Expressions of interest are invited for commercial marketing partnerships
We are continually looking for commercial marketing partnerships and sponsorship that meet our marketing objectives.
We have a range of events that can be sponsored and we are happy to talk to companies and organisations about innovative ways to explain who we are and what we do and promote our sites to their customers.
Our objectives are:
- Inform people about our work
- Raise awareness of our sites, events, activities and membership
- Raise awareness of the importance of trees, woods and forests
We have recently worked with companies to promote our forest and activities via their websites and apps. We would be interested in hearing about other similar opportunities.
Expressions of interest in this work can be made at any time by contacting marketing@forestryengland.uk
