Guiding Your Visit

The Guidebook, new for October 2023, features four highlighted routes around the Arboretum and contains the stories behind some of the 400+ memorials you will see along the way. 

 

Purple Route

The Purple Route follows Millennium Avenue, exploring memorials relating to the RAF along the right-hand side. The route then takes the river path and the outskirts of the Arboretum. Memorials include the Rail Industry, Bastion, Household Division, Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces, Shot at Dawn, Ambulance Services and the Polish Forces War.

 

Orange Route

The Orange Route begins at the end of Millennium Avenue and takes the pathway that runs alongside the River Tame, to the furthest point away from the Remembrance Centre at Watersmeet. This route will take you past memorials to the RNLI, the Allied Special Forces, footballers, Scouting, and ends beyond the RBL Poppy Meadow at the Trees of Life Glade - a living tribute to those who served our country throughout the pandemic, and remembers all those who died as a result of COVID-19 in the UK. 

 

 

Blue Route

The Blue Route explores the gardens and woodland surrounding Aspects, the Arboretum’s award-winning events and conferencing facility that boasts panoramic views of this area. The route includes memorials relating to the British Army, Police, the iconic Armed Forces Memorial, that stands at the centre of the Arboretum, and ends at the Arboretum’s very first memorial, the Polar Bear.

Please note that this is the only route in this guidebook that includes travelling on grass (The Beat). Should access be difficult for any reason, then visitors on this route have the option to head back down the pathway that runs alongside it instead.

Pink Route

The Pink Route explores the gardens closest to the Remembrance Centre, including memorials to the Royal Air Force (RAF), coal miners, Fire and Rescue Services and those connected to the Far East, including the Burma Railway and Far East Prisoners of War Memorial Building. This route then takes the pathway around the Merchant Navy Wood, and back along Millennium Avenue taking in memorials relating to the Royal Navy.