New Forest Family Adventure

We’ve had some wonderful weather this summer and have enjoyed lots of weekends away and days out in the sunshine, making the most of exploring the UK; so it was typical that the weekend of our New Forest adventure the heavens decided to open and the sun did not appear at any point during our stay (well not until 11am on Sunday when we were leaving to go home)!
Despite the weather we still had a wonderful time at the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s New Forest Site. One of my best friends is a campervanner and member of the Club so we decided to meet them on site, perfect as my little boy Sam loves his friend Donnie, who at 3 is just a year older than him, so lots of opportunity for them to play together.

We arrived late Friday afternoon. After a warm welcome from the site staff we found our friends who were already there with their Cadac BBQ going – perfect timing! The weather was already pretty awful but we gathered in our friends awning to relax and chat in the evening, cosy and sheltered from the rain. The boys had their little camping chairs set up and were happy laughing and playing together, having the best time. We had a delicious BBQ; burgers, sausages and chicken kebabs.

I know I’m biased, I work for the Club and have done for almost 8 years, but one of the best things about Club Sites for us as a family has to be how well maintained the sites are and how family friendly they are too. After dinner we took the boys to the toddler/baby room for a bath – they had more fun splashing each other rather than actually getting clean! It was then time for pyjamas and a bedtime story before getting cosy in the caravan and having an early night for the next day’s adventures. 

I was awoken the next morning by the pitter patter of heavy raindrops on the caravan roof. A quick shower in the immaculately clean shower block, raincoats on and balance bike and helmets at the ready and we were off to explore the site. Despite the rain the boys had great fun on their bikes and playing in the fabulous play park. We visited the little site shop at reception to get a fresh baguette, some chocolate croissants and orange juice, and then back to the caravan for bacon baguettes.

With our bellies full we were ready for the day ahead. Fortunately we had planned a trip to Beaulieu National Motor Museum (members of the Club get a 1/3 off admission price). As a lot of the attractions here are inside and undercover, our day was not affected by the terrible weather.

We visited the ‘on screen’ exhibit first, featuring cars from TV and movies. I got very excited to see the Ford Anglia, the flying car from Harry Potter’s Chamber of Secrets. Next we went to see the Top Gear Show – it’s a short film with Top Gear highlights but quite amusing and we got to sit on the Top Gear couch afterwards. The Top Gear exhibit was much more exciting with lots of vehicles from the show, some of which you could get inside. Our next stop was to the monorail for a short 10 minute ride around part of the estate. The monorail even goes through the roof of the motor museum. The mile long monorail is actually the oldest monorail in England and it was the perfect opportunity for us to view the gardens from up high without getting wet. 

Finally we headed towards the main museum. If you’ve never been to Beaulieu before you will be blown away by the cars and motorbikes on display, including early motors, F1 cars and land speed record breakers. Of course I had to visit the Caravan and Motorhome Club exhibit which outlines the history of the Club through the years right back from when it was founded in 1907. Opposite this exhibit was the Lego caravan – a record breaking full sized caravan made entirely out of Lego – 215,158 bricks to be precise. Amazing!

If the weather had been nicer we would have loved to stay longer to explore the grounds and abbey ruins, but we still managed to have a few hours of fun. It was now late afternoon so we decided to stop off at a little pub called the Filly in the New Forest, about 10 to 15 minutes’ drive from the Club site, for an early dinner. This is a lovely little pub, with highchairs, games and books. The boys attempted to play connect four and although Sam was too young to understand the rules he had fun slotting the pieces into place. There wasn’t a children’s menu but we were advised that they did smaller portions of everything on the main menu so Sam had fish and chips – which actually came out massive but was only £5 so good value. I had homemade soup and cottage pie – perfect for warming me up on such a miserable day.

Back for another evening in the caravan we were all tired from our busy day so had an early night. 

It was still raining the next day so a bit tricky for our friends putting the awning down. We took turns looking after the boys as we packed up. The New Forest Site is a Tourer Explorer Club Site so they had their Tourer Explorer activity books which kept them quiet for a little while!  Finally we were ready to go. We said goodbye to the caravan and the very friendly staff who had been so helpful during our stay.

We had hoped to go for a walk in the New Forest to see the New Forest ponies but the rain hadn’t stopped so we went to the very lovely Rosie Lea tea rooms, just outside of Brockenhurst, for a late cooked breakfast. Again these tea rooms didn’t have a children’s menu but they had a child version of a full English which Sam happily wolfed down whilst I enjoyed the veggie version. 

The tea rooms were actually located at Setley Ridge Garden Centre, the perfect place to visit on a rainy day. The garden centre had some beautiful items and if our car wasn’t fully loaded with all our weekend gear I would have been sorely tempted to indulge in a spot of shopping. My other half did manage to surprise me by buying a beautiful pressed flower glass frame, which looks stunning in our lounge window at home, particularly when the sun shines through. There was also a farm shop, selling local produce, including bottles of wine from Setley Ridge Vineyard. We left with fresh farm eggs and locally grown fruit and veg.

By now the rain had eventually stopped and the sun was coming out, just in time for our journey home! We had a short but wonderful weekend away, and even though the weather tried to ruin our fun, we had a great time. The New Forest is a truly magical place and I can’t wait to come back and see it in the sun!