OUR woodland areas are now off limits to all but those who live there.Having said that the Forest of Dean's woods were still open to walk in since Sunday, forestry bosses changed their tune today (Wednesday, March 25) and pleaded with people to stay away.Forestry England issued a statement entitled 'Help stop the spread of coronavirus' and urged: "Stay home, stay safe – please do not come to our forests. The most important thing for Forestry England is to keep the public and our staff safe. "The government has said everyone must stay at home apart from essential travel."Sadly this means we have to ask you not to come to the nation’s forests. "We will keep monitoring the situation closely and follow the latest advice from Public Health England."A spokesperson added: "This is a very sad day for us, as we ask you not to visit the nation's forests or do anything that would put the emergency services under extra pressure."FE also urged people living in or right beside woodland to take extra care to avoid an accident when taking their daily exercise, as permitted under the latest regulations. The organisation shut all recreation facilities on Sunday night, but said the forests were still open although ‘social distancing must be followed’.

A Forestry England statement said: “The most important thing for Forestry England is to keep the public, our staff and volunteers safe. From tonight (March 22) we will close all our main recreation facilities in the Forest of Dean.

“This includes Beechenhurst, Cannop Cycle Centre, Mallards Pike and Symonds Yat Rock.

Reports of hordes of people at the weekend flocking to beaches and mountains like the Sugar Loaf near Abergavenny, which saw police close access roads and ticket drivers who ignored signs, raised fears of a total lockdown on outdoor beauty spots.

One person posted after the facilities closure: “No surprise there, Cannop was like Party Central yesterday afternoon.”

But FE said the Dean’s woodlands were still open for exercise, before changing their policy today.