For rare items and cool secrets, as well as unique quests, there’s always a special location for you to access in Stardew Valley. That’s why between farming and gathering resources it’s a good idea to actually walk around and do a little bit of exploring. You’ll never know exactly what you might find.
One special location that becomes incredibly important for rare resources is the Secret Woods area in Stardew Valley. Due to how inconspicuous its entrance is, most players might not ever even think of entering it or finding a way to it. Here’s how you can get to the Secret Woods quickly and what you can find there.
What Is The Secret Woods?
The Secret Woods is a small sub-location found in the western parts of Cindersap Forest. There are often enemies inside the Secret Woods, so come prepared with a weapon in order to take care of some of the slimes that regularly spawn there.
Inside the woods themselves, there’s also a bottom area that you can access by walking through a secret passage in the foliage. Walk around carefully next to the edges of the southern woods to find passage to the small alcove.
How To Unlock The Secret Woods In Stardew Valley
The path to the Secret Woods is found north of the Wizard Rasmodiu’s tower, and west of where the Traveling Cart spawns, at the very corner of the forests. In a new game, the passage will be blocked by a fallen log, which needs to be broken with the right tool.
Upgrade your axe into a Steel Axe by bringing Clint the blacksmith five Iron Bars and 5,000 gold. It will take him two days to do the upgrade. After that, you can just chop the log into pieces and walk into the woods.
What You Can Find In Stardew Valley’s Secret Woods
Here’s everything you can find in the secret woods and what it’s useful for.
Get Some Hardwood
One of the most important resources in the Secret Woods is hardwood. Hardwood is a limited resource but is needed in abundance when it comes to unlocking some major game features, including farmhouse upgrades and repairing Willy’s boat to Ginger Island.
Because of this, it’s good to visit the Secret Woods on a daily basis to gather up to 12 pieces of hardwood by chopping down the large stumps that spawn daily in this area. You can also quite reliably get mahogany tree seeds when killing slimes and chopping the stumps, which allows you to start your own hardwood farm.
Forage Rare Items
There’s also a ton of forageable items available in the Secret Woods which make it a worthwhile spot. If you chose to turn your cave into a fruit bat cave, it’s one of the best locations to find morel, common mushroom, red mushroom, and chanterelle. In winter, you can also find holly in there, and in spring you have a decent chance of finding wild horseradish.
The most important forageable item you can find there, however, is Fiddlehead Fern. You have a 78% chance of finding it during the summer season, and it’s an important one since it’s used in the Bulletin Board bundle. You can also find artifact spots and dig up secret notes, clay, stone, and even lost books or mixed seeds and rice shoots.
Fish For Woodskip
A small pond can also be found in the Secret Woods. Fishing here gives you access to one unique fish type which can’t be discovered anywhere else on the map: woodskip. The only other way to find a woodskip is to have a forest farm type. The woodskip is a necessary catch, since it’s a required fish in the Fish Tank bundle for the Community Center.
The other two fish you can find here are carp and catfish, both of which can also be found in the river and mountain lake.
Help Old Master Cannoli
Opposite the fish pond is the aging statue of an old man. This statue is Old Master Cannoli’s, and he’s looking for “the sweetest taste”. In order to complete his request, you need to bring him a Sweet Gem Berry. To get one, purchase a Rare Seed from the Traveling Cart and plant it outside during Fall or inside the greenhouse whenever you want.
Bringing him a Sweet Gem Berry will reward you with a Stardrop, which will increase your health and your energy bar. Although it might take a while to finish his quest, it’s well worth the effort, considering how tough Stardrops are to come by otherwise.
NEXT: Stardew Valley: Complete Guide And Walkthrough
