Chevin Forest Park has a rich history of people living, working and using the land. An Iron Age enclosure has been excavated as has a Roman road. Before the Enclosures Act in the 1780s it was common land where people would use the land for animal grazing, gathering fuel and building materials.The land was then parcelled up and a series of landowners over the years made changes and 'improvements' including developing plantations and forestry operations.

Over the years, land has been donated by local benefactors and purchased by Leeds City Council as a Nature Reserve and Country park for people to enjoy.

Friends of Chevin Forest are a group of local volunteers who want to share the history and nature of the landscape with people and develop their knowledge of the fascinating history. We want to develop a new and interactive website that people can use with modern technology and have identified a web designer interested in working with us to this end. We have also been to develop historical walks around The Chevin and want to provide informative leaflets for people to explore the landscape with.

I am one of the volunteers and have decided to set myself the challenge of swimming 1500m in a wild swim in Lake Windermere on 22nd July 2018. Not only have I never swum this far before (despite over 60 years of swimming) but I'm having to learn front crawl and the challenge is much greater than I had anticipated!