I hope you're having a good Summer wherever you are :) Just when I thought Summer was coming to an end, we've been having some glorious sunshine so I'm not packing away my sandals just yet! Over the bank holiday weekend in the UK, we booked 2 days away in the New Forest, Hampshire. I've not been there for over 10 years when I went bike riding with friends, so I figured a trip to the countryside was much needed. We had looked at going to Majorca but who knew a short trip to Spain would be so expensive?!
We travelled by train from London Waterloo to Brockenhurst, which is a village in the middle of the New Forest. The journey was 1 hr 40 min, which wasn't too bad and little one loves train journeys. I wanted to share what we got up to, places we ate and where we stayed. Hope you find this useful if you're planning a trip to Hampshire!
LUNCH IN BROCKENHURST VILLAGE
If you're after a pub lunch in a cosy location, then pop along to The Huntsman of Brockenhurst. I had seen this place recommended a few times on blogs so was keen to visit and try their roast dinners! It's a hotel with a restaurant, so handy if you want a local place to stay in Brockenhurst. It's also only 5 minutes walk from the station so easy to get to. The decor was traditional with modern elements, wood panel walls with modern prints. The outdoor area was great, lots of wooden tables, cosy benches, a fire pit and deck chairs to enjoy cocktails. It was pretty hot so we sat inside, that didn't stop us from ordering the roasts though! Hang had the roast beef and me and little one shared the roast chicken. Both was delicious except for the potatoes, which was dry and hard. We still had a nice lunch and the environment and service was good.
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FOREST PARK HOTEL
A few weeks ago I was looking at places to stay in the New Forest but I think we left it to late as all the good places had been booked up. I really wanted to stay at The Pig Hotel but it's super popular - next time! Lots of cute cottages and rustic B&B's were either really expensive or also booked up. So when I came across Forest Park Hotel I quickly booked 1 night stay. Ideally 2 nights would have been good but that's all the availability they had! It's right in the middle of the New Forest, which was what we wanted as we weren't driving. The grounds looked huge and the rooms and restaurant cosy, perfect for a Countryside break. We paid £255 for a triple room as that's all they had left and also asked for a cot in the room, which is an extra £6. We walked from Brockenhurst station to the hotel, which took about 20 minutes and passed along so many horses and cows! Animals have right of way here and it's not scary being so close to them :)
The staff at the hotel were very friendly and accommodating, assisting me when I asked them about walks etc. The garden was so relaxing, with lots of tables and chairs and wooden swings to enjoy our Gin and Tonics on. The room itself was fine, the only issue was the cot was so hard and not comfortable at all for little one, so we placed pillows inside to soften it up. Apart was that it was fine for a nights stay and it was really nice to tucked away in the Forest. If you're thinking of staying here, you can use my Booking.com referral code for 10% off :) Fun fact, Roosevelt visited this hotel in 1910!
We paid to have breakfast in the hotel and there was very nice selection of cooked breakfast options, toast with jams (had the mulberry gin and vanilla jam!) pastries and cereals. It's also a nice place to have dinner to, my beef and stout pie could of been better but the other dishes we ordered were nice.
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WALKS IN THE NEW FOREST
Travelling to the New Forest with a toddler means a totally different
trip if it was just me and Hang, I knew we couldn't just hire bikes
or go on really long walks but we made the most of it. The New Forest website and app is really good to plan out walks and things to do. As we were staying in Brockenhurst, the nearest walk for us was the Whitefield Moor walk,
which was 1.6 miles. Because it was so hot as well, I didn't want little
one to be hot and restless. It was a nice walk over bridges and streams
and under the tall trees. There are so many other things to do, like
deer watching, bike riding, pony rides and parks and museums. I would highly recommend downloading the app as it has maps and walks you can view on the go.
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LUNCH AT THE CLIFF HOUSE
After our stay in Brockenhurst I looked into beaches we could visit the
next day as the great thing about Hampshire is that it's so close to
the coast. You can travel to Bournemouth, Dorset or Southampton so you're
spoilt for choice! I was looking up the best beaches in Hampshire and
came across this amazing looking hotel and restaurant, The Cliff House
in Barton on Sea. I was sold on the decor and how it was over looking the beach. I booked a table for lunch and our visit coincided with their Gin & Beer festival - win! The taxi ride from our hotel was about 25 minutes and cost just over £30.
It was such a gorgeous day to have lunch by the beach, the coastal and nautical decor was modern and welcoming. I loved the whole beachy vibes! The restaurant opened out to over look the cliff side and it was so nice to enjoy the sea breeze. The menu is a mix of seafood and meat dishes, we went for the crab and smoked haddock mac 'n' cheese, it was yum! I would definitely recommend dining here as it's a great atmosphere with nice tasty meals.
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HAMPSHIRE BEACHES
If you're after a beautiful cliff side beach, then Barton on Sea is a lovely place to visit. It's a pebble beach with some sand and it's very picturesque. It's a lovely British Seaside beach with colourful beach huts, people doing water sports and I felt so relaxed and calm being by the sea. We didn't have our swimming gear with us, but when the weather is hot it's the perfect place for a splash! Other beaches close by is Milford on Sea, Calshot Beach and Eastney Beach.
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We had a lovely 2 days exploring Hampshire and The New Forest but travelling with our toddler was not easy! He doesn't like to stay still and didn't sleep well, so he was tired and cranky! Anyway that won't stop us from having more staycations in the UK :) Have you been to the New Forest? I would love to hear about your experience and what you got up to! You can also pin the image below to Pinterest for future reference :)
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| Outfits: Red Dress - H&M, Leopard print skirt - ASOS, white dress - Primark. |
Have you been to the New Forest?
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