Category: UK Adventures

New Forest – UK – 2025 – Day 4

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I’ll start by telling you about day 3’s evening meal… we once again went to The Royal Oak at Hilltops, Beaulieu. It was a different lady from last night but equally affable, and she like the lady from the previous night dealt with everything “front of house” with ease, efficiency and cheerily.

We all ate the same…one of our favourite …Liver and bacon with mash, greens, leeks and carrots and gravy in a little jug on the side….perfectly cooked, perfectly presented but what a plateful…..it was delicious. I think the faces and empty plate speaks volumes…

Excellent value for money …with drinks just under £65…. We were too full for dessert. The friendly member of staff chatted to us about the other restaurants, owned by a local couple, all of which are spread around the New Forest villages, all selling good wholesome, home cooked meals. Thank you The Royal Oak…excellent food, lovely environment, great staff.

The only problem with eating outside of the hotel is that you have to drive back, on unfamiliar roads with ponies wandering about in the dark….most wear reflective collars but that doesn’t help when they’re in the middle of the road with their hind quarters facing you…..we crawled back to the hotel at a very slow pace avoiding several groups of ponies who were determined to cause a road block!!!! Bless them.

Day 4 – Happy 11th Wedding Anniversary to my darling husband – looking forward to more adventures in our 12th year of marriage…..

We awoke early packed up the car on the way to breakfast. It was cold and a hard frost was on the car windscreen. The restaurant is on the far side of the carpark with no internal route. This means you have to wrap up warm to get there. Once again there was a different member of staff on duty. We were offered coffee, but today it was from a thermos heater….no…stewed coffee is the absolute worst…I asked for cafetières with extra coffee…I was told that the coffee came out of the heater and couldn’t be made stronger…..I mentioned we had had it freshly made the 2 previous mornings, the reply was “ we all do things differently”…so I pointed to the sign above and asked if it was a lie… “All you need is love and a good cup of coffee” …reluctantly he went to the kitchen and made us fresh coffee…Rule number 1 for a waiter..never argue with the client…Rule number 2 for a waiter…learn how to make decent coffee…..Rule no 3 for a waiter …Learn rule number 1&2 🤣🤣 The coffee was worse than the day before but better than the first day..Part of the problem with the restaurant is that the staff are always different so they don’t get to know the customers and they are not trained to do things the same way so there is no consistency of service, what a shame.

With breakfast over we returned to our rooms completed our ablutions and said goodbye to the friendly reception staff. The actual hotel staff and rooms are really lovely. However we wouldn’t stay there again because of the very poor restaurant..the poor quality of the evening menu and the actual food tells us they need a much better chef. The poor and inconsistent service tells us their restaurant staff need to be properly trained and finally their inability to make a decent cup of coffee tells us never to stay there again…what a shame …..

We set off for home across the forest moorland. The winter colours of the yellow gorse or is it broom?? And the red berries on the rowan trees making stark contrasts with the white frosty morning

We said farewell to the ponies…see you next year…look after my mum 🥰

We stopped off at Eastleigh for John to have a look in the station yard and then I put my foot to the floor in a homewards direction. Even though it was a Friday and we had several areas of slow moving traffic we made good time. We stopped at Buckingham Garden Centre for a convenient toilet break and to enjoy their Christmas Decorations.

Then again just outside Bedford for a carvery lunch, before dropping Dad off home. We got home at 15.45.

Another wonderful few days in the New Forest.

New Forest – UK – 2025 – Day 3

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Well! actually I’ll stat on Day 2 evening. We had an absolutely splendid meal at The Royal Oak HillTops, Beaulieu…. It’s a quaint, quirky pub/ restaurant.

On arriving we were greeted warmly by the lady who both waitresses and ran the bar. She seated us at a really nice table, gave us menus and pointed out the specials board. I took a photo of the specials board…a little trick my sister taught me to save everyone getting up to look…..

The menu was extensive and there was nothing on it or the specials board which cost more than £19.99…..what a pleasure so many places now charge the earth for just mediocre food. We all found something we fancied. I had the pheasant from the specials board. It was absolutely delicious, the mash was properly freshly home cooked and the pheasants breast very tasty and tender…pheasant legs are always more for decoration than eating and this one was no exception it had obviously walked a long way 🤣…a perfect meal leaving some wonderful tastes in my mouth …yummmy

Dad had his favourite Sea Bass with smashed potatoes and samphire, followed by ice cream.

John had Beef cooked in Guinness with a dumpling, parsnips, mash and carrots…followed by a large ice cream.

An absolutely great meal, with superb service…even with drinks the bill was only £81.00, very reasonable for what we had…needless to say we’ve booked again for tonight. It is only a 10 minute drive from our hotel.

Day 3

We started the day with a very similar continental breakfast to the previous day. The only difference was I asked them to make the coffee much stronger…this time at least I could taste that it was coffee…scoring it 6/10, John gave it a 7/10 and Dad a 5/10…. To be honest the beans blend was not too our liking they were very bitter…we prefer pure Costa Rica coffee beans which is strong, powerful and doesn’t leave you with a bitter taste like cheaper coffee beans and blends do …..yes we are coffee snobs🤣🤣

We set off to Hythe Marina, another favourite haunt of ours and one which Mum and Dad introduced us too. On the way we saw a couple of deer.

On arriving at The Marina John and I got out of the car and I took a very bracing walk along the promenade…..it was bitter and I had to jog back fearing that my watering eyes might freeze on my cheeks….

John took a variety of pictures ..

Dad very sensibly stayed in the car…it was 1 degrees Celsius….a tad chilly.

We carried on to Calshot …another favourite “walk down memory lane” for me….when I was 18 I had spent three weeks at the activity centre before going off to college. The first week I had been taught the basic skills in a variety of activities..cycling in a velodrome, skiing on a dry ski slope, rock climbing on a wall, canoeing/kayaking, skating etc…then the following two weeks I had been a carer/ mentor/ coach and general dogs body for 2 different groups of disabled children….i still remember my fear as I taught a blind boy to rock climbing and took a wheelchair bound girl in a sledge down the ski slope, they loved it but I was petrified …I bottled the velodrome because I couldn’t peddle fast enough to stop the bike slipping down the wall, I’ve never been any good on a bike….but I was a superstar on the skates safely taking my protégés around and I managed the kayaks without drowning anyone🤣🤣🤣 They were days I shall always remember with immense fondness and consequently Calshot spit holds a special place in my heart…..but today it was cold and inhospitable and non of us ventured out of the car.

Driving back along the Spit we saw an egret in the stream

We drove back along the Lepe waterfront, past the lighthouse.

Having picked up petrol and sandwiches we headed for Horseshoe Bottom carpark. Today we had all the correct components to make coffee. We ate our sandwiches in the car, snug and warm, while watching the ponies, dog walkers, riders and generally just enjoying my mums special place and a little Robin kept us entertained …

After a nice relaxation, people, pony and robin watching we headed on towards Nomansland…another quirky village at the edge of the forest. We past by many New Forest Ponies and some Shetland Ponies and of course the off spring of The Grey Stallion.

It’s a lot more foresty than moorland on this side of the forest.

Whilst going through one of the picturesque villages we came across a group of donkeys…they are the first we have seen this trip. This is unusual as we usually see a lot. But we are later visiting this year and during the winter many of them are taken into farms for protection.

We were just commenting that we were unlikely to see any free roaming pigs at this time of year, because the pannage was over – that is when the pigs are let out free roaming so they can eat the acorns which are poisonous to the ponies – Then suddenly walking down the edge of the road was a massive pig…

Wow! now the only thing we haven’t seen, which we usually do is free roaming cows…We headed back to our hotel. Parking up we were about to return to our rooms when we caught sight of 4/5 cows just coming out of the wooded area opposite the hotel…

…Our checklist was complete…we can rest up in peace. This evening we are going back to the Royal Oak, I’ll blog about it tomorrow. Tomorrow we are returning home…it is also our 11th Wedding Anniversary…

New Forest – UK – 2025 – Day 2

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On our way to breakfast we stopped at reception and I spoke to the receptionist to ask if Dads bed could be made up with sheets and blanket because he hates sleeping under a duvet…..we’d brought a sheet with us because usually there’s a blanket in the wardrobe but evidently not in these parts….and I also requested that our TV had a reboot as we could only get BBC 1&2…. We were greeted by a wonderfully cheerful receptionist, who said she’d sort it out. The 2 receptionists we’ve met at this hotel are definitely “The Face” of The Beaulieu Hotel. Their greetings are so welcoming and friendly they are such an asset to the establishment and they set the scene for a high class stay….”thank you lovely ladies”.

We went across to The Drift for a continental breakfast. It was beautifully laid out with a nice range including yogurt, fruits, cereals, pastries, ham and cheese, toast and preserves…..all anyone could possibly want. We were asked if we wanted to upgrade to a full-English but we were perfectly happy with the continental. Our only problem was the coffee….we had to laugh because above Johns head was a sign saying “ All you need is Love and a good cup of coffee” …ummm. Well we all had the former but none of us got the later… We did our usual coffee scoring…John and Dad gave the coffee 4/10 which I thought was overly generous scoring it 2/10 – 1 for being wet and the other for being warm!!! An extra two spoons of coffee in each cafetière would have allowed it to taste like coffee instead of dirty dish water ……

After breakfast our lovely reception ladies told us they had achieved both of our requests and sure enough they had. We headed out on the moors. We had a lovely drive and saw a few ponies. We love the signs slowing cars down…

The rain stopped and the sun came out just as we arrived at Mums carpark-

“Horseshoe Bottom”- as if by magic there were loads of ponies we counted 26…a hive of activity….it always is, they love my mum and she loved them….even though that “Grey Stallion” had obviously been around 🤣🤣

I got out to make the coffee only to discover we hadn’t refreshed the flask and had no hot water…what a trio of nutters we are….never mind we still sat and enjoyed the view for a while.

I asked John to navigate us down the “ Ornamental Drive” . This takes you through the most magnificent arboretum and at this time of year the trees and undergrowth are nothing short of magnificent in colour.

The route takes you past Rhinefield House, a top class hotel which is a member of the “hand picked” collection.

We turned in to their drive, we usually drive up to the house and out again because you can often see deer on their drive. As soon as we turned in I suggested we stopped and had a coffee – “my plan B”!!…

It was agreed…we parked up and walked through the trees to the lovely house.

Down some stairs to the lounge…this overlooked some ornamental gardens, ponds and fountains.

And guess what?? We had a magnificent cup of coffee…

We walked back to the car and found a tree for me to hang out on ! …John said I was “ the branch manager” …. ( Johns background is in Banking) 🤣🤣

Feeling refreshed from a great coffee and a loo break we drove on through the forest, stopping at a carpark for our picnic lunch…we had bought sandwiches in Sway…

We slowly wound our way back to the hotel for an afternoon rest prior to going out for supper. We passed plenty more ponies.

Our friendly receptionists greeted us on our return, showing genuine interest in what we’d been doing and where we’d been…we thanked them profusely for their warmth. When we got back to our room Dads key card wouldn’t work, but the friendly cleaner let him in and took the key card to reception for us then returned and checked it worked…what a lovely lady…all the staff in the hotel really are genuinely kind and helpful, a rarity in hotels these days..they couldn’t do more for you and nothing is too much trouble…..it makes it all the more sad that their restaurant lets them down….tonight I’ve booked a table at The Royal Oak the other side of Beaulieu. …….i’ll let you know how we find it in tomorrows blog…for now I need a cat-nap or 40 winks….

New Forest – UK…2025…A few days in one of our favourite places in the UK

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Every year we come to the New Forest, Hampshire, UK ….my mum loved it here and we enjoy sitting in her favourite carpark on the forest moorland. New Forest ponies ( never call them horses) are naturally bay in colour…but over the years they have become chestnut, black and grey….mum used to laugh and say “That Grey Stallion has been on the rampage again”…

So! We set off from home and picked Dad up before heading through Bicester down to Eastleigh, just outside Southampton. We stopped for a sandwich, while John watched a variety of trains.

We progressed on to Chandlers Ford for coffee with my mums second cousins Simon and Sheila. It was good to catch up.

Finally we arrived at The Beaulieu Hotel, next to Beaulieu Road Station, in the New Forest. We had a lovely welcome from the receptionist. We had booked deluxe rooms. The Ambassador lift took us up to our rooms. They were spacious, uncluttered and extremely pleasant. Just inside the door was something I’d only ever seen on over night trains….a pull down set of bunk beds….what a clever idea for families……

The reception areas had big “flop down” sofas, chairs and a roaring log fire…the whole ambience was most congenial, relaxing and very nice…The wifi seems good !!!!

We had booked our evening meal for 6.30pm. We were told it was in “The Drift”- a pub and restaurant in a different building on the same site, we presume it’s part of the hotel…However!!!! It was very different…although not unpleasant it certainly didn’t have the same welcoming ambience that the hotel had. We waited too long to be seated and even then I eventually went to the bar and asked if we just sat anywhere – even though a sign said “please wait to be seated”. The lady behind the bar asked if the chap was there “No” !!! That’s why we were stood there like lost souls….I am never very good with people who don’t use what I call “ with-itness” or more commonly called common sense…..from the bar it was a clear view to where we were stood…ummmm any way she did seat us…The menu was very limited…John had gammon and chips, Dad and I had Chicken and Ham pie and chunky chips…..Dad compared the pie to a “Pukka pie”… just full of stodge, not a piece of chicken to be found… and everything swimming in a thick gravy resulting in soggy pastry and chips…..oh dear….. the plate says it all…..

The service didn’t really improve…and the dessert menu was all a sugar loaded over kill….the saving grace was that Dad enjoyed his wine and I had a nice glass of cider. The drinks and meal came to £71. I think we’ll eat somewhere else tomorrow.

Milton Keynes – A morning of Leisure – 29/08/2025 – “Messing About on the River”

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It seems to have been a busy year to date…..lots of domestic necessities, a few medical musts, my sisters wonderful wedding, not to mention the unexpected an undesirable destruction of the rear end of my car when some poor soul lost concentration and redesigned the car leading to the ongoing saga (literally 🤣) insurance companies and hire cars. ………. All of which has meant we haven’t been out and about as much…However our pending trip to SA is looming and I will post our pre trip planning documents shortly. In the meantime we have been alleviating our “At Home” status with some excellent day trips out and of course visiting some of our favourite restaurants…..I think I’ll have to add a “Recommended Restaurants” to our blog menu, because we are certainly adding to our long list of great eateries at all ends of the price spectrum.

Back to our trip out in Milton Keynes….I was looking for some light relief for both of us and my Dad. My surfing led me to a boat trip on the Grand Union Canal, starting from Milton Keynes. Yeah!!! That ticked a few boxes…easy to get too, not too far away, something that both my Dad and John enjoy…Further investigation led me to see it offered a wide menu of trips…afternoon tea, fish and chip suppers, family cruises, booze cruises and the one which tickled my fancy..morning coffee and cake. At £24 per person and a choice of coffee, carrot or lemon drizzle cake, coffee or tea…it was a definite “must do”.

The Electra Milton Keynes Community Boat website was very easy to navigate and I soon booked our 3 tickets. At the time of booking you also select your cake choice. The confirmation gives you full details of where to park and how to get there and what time you need to arrive. It also gives your electronic tickets which you can either download to your phone or print…I always screenshot these just incase my signal drops out just when you need it.

The boat leaves from Campbell Wharf, just outside the marina. There is literally no parking there, not even disabled, but you can drop off and go and park. With our back to the canal we turned right at the roundabout and in no time at all there are car parks to the right facing the moored house/ longboats and the canal. If you walk back to the wharf through Campbells park, there is a very good path. You cross over the canal twice but it is all easy ramps, no steps. You could I suppose walk back along the grass verge of the road, it might be a tad shorter but nowhere near as picturesque.
Unfortunately it was raining, but our high spirits were not to be dampened and the three of us raised the brollies and stepped out along the footpath. It took us no more than 10 minutes and we certainly weren’t racing. On arriving the volunteer boat driver/ pilot – Tim- assisted us on and introduced us to David the inside host.
The Electra had two seater tables down each side and a maximum seating capacity of 12. It was comfortable and not squashed. There were only 8 of us and as we had all boarded well before 10.30am we set off early. Our particular trip took us from Campbell Park Wharf to Great Linford Manor and back again. Depending upon the amount of traffic on the water depends on the length of the trip. It could take up to 2.5 hours.
The Electra is as its name suggests an electric boat so totally silent. It has thrusters at the front for when it needs to turn and this is the only notice you occasionally hear. Consequently you see quite a lot of canal side water fowl and bird life.

Our outward journey didn’t give us many photographic opportunities as the rain was quite heavy.

The weather slowly began to clear. John was quickly on his feet and standing in the more open bow with his camera at the ready…….whats new!!!!!!!

We passed under some bridges with some excellent art in the form of mosaics, paintings and some carvings.

Just before Great Linford Manor our coffee and cake was served to us….yummy..

Our return trip allowed for a greater amount of wildlife viewing…..

A big shout out to The Electra Community Boat Milton Keynes and its volunteer crew.

We had a wonderful morning “Messing about on the River”…well! Actually not the river..The Grand Union Canal. …it was a very good price for coffee and cake and the adventure. As you depart the boat there is a collection box, not a tips box, and the money is used to help those less able to enjoy this wonderful experience. Thank you very much.