![]() ![]() ![]() It felt as if we had the entire woodland to ourselves. It was pretty and quiet - we only encountered a few dog walkers and a family of cyclists. Winding down on our last day, we explored the forest next to the campsite. The cliffs are badly eroded and taped off to beachcombers but the boys find enough green, black, red, yellow and orange sand to fill a bag and are happy.īournemouth is just a short drive away from Holmsley and was perfect for a bracing blast of beach air before a trip to the cinema for Ratatouille with the rest of the half-term crowd. We took a ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth and head for Alum Bay with its coloured sands and magnificent view of the Needles. His pals on the campsite wondered at it and he beamed with pride. Anyway, the worms seemed to have got there before us.īut Harry found a ceps-type mushroom, complete with maggot holes. ![]() We picked a few mushrooms but didn't know whether they were edible or poisonous. The forest was magnificent with wild ponies strolling around, deer hiding among trees and golden and yellows leaves on the ground. The Forestry Commission laid on a fungi family fun day at Bolderwood where we painted clay mushrooms and coloured in pictures of the local flora. The final push up a hill, two dogs in trailer nearly finished us off, but we made it back in time.įoraging for mushrooms seemed tame in comparison but it can be deadly. We don't expect to see him again but he returns with a new inner tube and fixes our wheel. We throw ourselves on the mercy of a local gent cycling past with his dog. The tyre came off the dog trailer and there was no spare inner tube. He had to stretch his legs, full length, to reach the pedals on my bike. I extended the saddle and rode the tiny bike, BMX-style. I swapped bikes with Harry who was fed-up with the stiff gear change. We had to be back before the cycle hire shop closed at 5pm. The pub was in sight, one last push and down the hill. Anne ran over Chloe's foot so the injured greyhound was sandwiched into the dog trailer while the short-legged JRT trotted behind, battling to keep up. But George was having a great time - and he was pedalling! No one spotted the dog trailer had a flat tyre.Ī mile down the track, through gorgeous forest, the greyhound had had enough and Harry was whingeing and tired. It was all going so well - until we had to leave the safety of the cycle compound. So this meant we had one adult bike, one adult bike with dog trailer, one adult comfort bike with a tagalong for George and a delighted Harry got a 20-inch bike with six gears. George, the non-cyclist, was too big for the available trailers but there was one suitable for Monty the Jack Russell. It wasn't easy to kit us out since our party consisted of three adults, a four-year-old who's a whizz on a scooter but can't pedal, won't pedal, a keen seven-year-old cyclist and two dogs. We hired bikes from cycleexperience in Brockenhurst. Smart, gentrified beach huts provide a splendid backdrop to a magnificent shoreline. Mudeford was our first port of call where we made a short foot-ferry crossing to Hengistbury Head. The site, next to a former Second World War air base is huge, spreading back to the forest beyond where you can cycle, walk and forage for mushrooms.Īnd it's also a great centre for exploring the fantastic beaches nearby. The awning was erected, the electricity hooked up and the water filled. So we just turned up and everything was ready and waiting. We stayed at the Holmsley site near Christchurch, Dorset, which has two touring caravans on a permanent pitch so holidaymakers thinking of buying one can try them first. The heat was a godsend on dewy, autumnal mornings.įorest Holidays has teamed up with the Camping and Caravanning Club and is trying new things. There was also the emptying the toilet thing, a task I passed on to my dutiful partner.īut the gas fire kept us warm through the evenings as we played board games or watched TV with a glass of wine and cooked sumptuous dinners on our stove. There were disadvantages, my young sons rose early so, with no separate sleeping space, we all had to get up. Not only did our new five-berth caravan have a toilet but also a shower, heater, hot water and cooker. I was sure the cold, like a dementor, would suck the life out of me - leaving me unable to abandon the warmth of my bed and fighting the need to pull on boots and tramp across a dewy field to the toilet block.īut the reality was very different. That's how I imagined caravanning in the New Forest over the October half-term would be. There's a scene at the beginning of Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban where the dementors stop the Hogwarts Express and the carriage windows freeze over, spreading a spider's web of crackling frost. ![]()
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