Forel (French pronunciation: [fɔʁɛl]) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Lavaux-Oron.

The oldest document mentioning the area around Forel (Lavaux) is dated 1140, and mentions Guy de Maligny, the bishop of Lausanne, owning the land with the Lac de Joux Abbey.

Two years later, the same Baron of Vaud sold the land to the bishop of Lausanne and it became part of the district of the Grande Paroisse de Villette.

After the departure of Lausanne's last prince-bishop in 1536, and the lands came under the administration of Bern, and established the district known as the Place General de Villette.

It was not until 1601 that a representative of the farming area of Forel was invited to join the district council in Cully.

In 1822 petitions to the State Council from residents of Epesses, the Monts de Villette and Aran, signed by some 145 people, reflected a showing the strong desire for local autonomy.

Forel is located at 716 m (2,349 ft) above sea level, 11 km (7 mi) east of the capital of the canton of Lausanne (as the crow flies).

The scattered settlement community extends to the southeast in the Jorat plateau, north of Lake Geneva basin, in the Vaud Midlands.

Forel (Lavaux) has an area, as of 2009[update], of 18.51 square kilometres (7.15 sq mi).

To the north lies the town land in the forest area Bois du Grand Jorat (up to 884 m (2,900 ft) above sea level), which arises from the Carrouge.

In the northeast, includes the territory of Petit Jorat at 730 m (2,400 ft) above sea level.

To the south, the town area extends to the wooded heights of Mont de Gourze at 925 m (3,035 ft) above sea level, the highest point on the watershed between the basins of the Rhône and Rhine.

The municipality consists of the real estate community center Cornes de Cerf (716 m (2,349 ft) above sea level) and numerous hamlets and settlements, including Le Pigeon, Le Plan, Le Grenet, Les Chesaudes and La Tuilière, all located on the southeast Jorat plateau, as well as many individual farms.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules, a letter F between Antlers all of Argent.

[8] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Forel (Lavaux) is; 236 children or 12.5% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 221 teenagers or 11.7% are between 10 and 19.

[9] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][13] Forel was until the second half of the 20th century, a primarily agricultural village.

Agriculture, dairy farming and animal husbandry, and forestry is an important factor in the employment structure of the population.

Through the construction of numerous single-family homes in the last decades, the village has developed into a residential community.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 84, of which 80 were in agriculture and 4 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 80 or 42.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 3.2% were in the movement and storage of goods, 21 or 11.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.1% were in the information industry, 3 or 1.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 11 or 5.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 9 or 4.8% were in education and 23 or 12.2% were in health care.

[16] From the 2000 census[update], 376 or 22.1% were Roman Catholic, while 927 or 54.4% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts.

The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years.