The region is sparsely populated, and very attractive with the Malvern Hills to the north and the Wye Valley forming the western border. The eponymous forest is a National Forest Park, and played the part of Sherwood in the 1980s television series Robin of Sherwood.
As West Gloucestershire, this constituency had a Conservative majority of just under 5,000. But in the 1995 boundary changes 17,000 voters were removed to help boost the electorate in the new Tewkesbury constituency. These were mainly suburban - and Conservative-inclined - electors in the Greater Gloucester area.
What remained was the re-creation of the old Forest of Dean seat which existed before 1950. That seat was solidly Labour, apart from an interruption between 1931 and 1935, and once again the Forest of Dean elected a Labour MP.
The economy of the Forest of Dean was originally shaped by coal mining, although the last colliery closed as long ago as 1965. The gaunt towns of Coleford and Cinderford still exist in the woods as stark reminders of the working-class traditions of the Forest.
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