Ringwood- New Forest stay

Hi Shandy,

With children that age, Moors Valley Country Park is a fantastic day out. Just pay for parking, very good value and lots to do.

Shame you are not staying at the travelodge ringwood as we walked to Moors Valley from there (Although our kids were older than yours at the time).

It was a lovely country park -the parking does sound expensive but it is instead of entry fee. I would take a picnic though as food was the usual country park/national trust type prices.

We also enjoyed Beaulieu motor museum although your children might be a little young to appreciate it. For a free attraction with a nice short walk consider the new forest reptile centre in Lyndhurst.

Poole - Poole park is OK, nice to park up at Baiter carparks and walk along to the main Quay, go past the old RNLI boathouse. Can cost but from Poole Quay you can get boat rides around the harbour, up to Wareham (up the river Frome) or out into Poole Bay, personally the nicest one i think is around the Harbour. The other option is ferry from the quay to Brownsea Island, ran by the NT, native red squirrels, nice place, you can do a full walk circuit round the island, take a picnic and its a good day out.


Personally I dont think that there is a lot else in Poole itself. Its gone a bit downhill these days. Outside of Poole, entertainment for the kids on a rainy day - Tower Park, cinemas, eateries, bowling etc (will be busy if school holidays, but as I said, rainy day option.


New Forest - Burley is a nice walk around, park up in the top carpark near the cricket pitch then head to the village but go past the church rather than the road. There are numerous carparks in the forest and many loop round walks. Lymington is quite nice down by the quay.


Bournemouth - walk down through the gardens, that can be quite nice, Oceanarium down by the pier, can be pricey but not too bad.


New forest - eateries and such, North of the A31 you will find the forest a bit quieter - there are some nice pubs there, i dont know how good the food is of late as not frequented them, but trip adviser will be a guide, The High Corner Inn i used to go to a lot, The red shoot was another good one., plenty of walks around there also and less people use that part of the forest so quieter.


Salisbury - this is a beautiful place, happily spend a day wandering around the main shopping bit, cathedral is pretty amazing and the whole cathedral precinct. There is a big supermarket (think its Tesco?) where massive carpark and always parking, from there its about 5-10 minutes into the very centre of town. Riverside wetherspoons for cheap family food, not a bad pub, more often quieter upstairs in seated area.


North of Poole - Wimborne - lovely little town, outskirts of it you have Badbury Rings, free parking and lovely old hill fort, there is also Kingston Lacy estate which can be costly getting in but really amazing gardens and house.


Further afield - Wareham, ancient walled town, invaded by Vikings going back a while, lot of town walls (earthen) still there and nice walk around, the quay by the river at the bottom end of town is quite nice.


Checkout Arne Nature reserve, I think its a car park fee (not a lot) and lovely walking, takes in bird sanctuary, beaches woodland etc, if you hang around on the beach facing round island and long island you might even get to see the resident Poole Harbour seals (think there are 2 again).


If you dont like the £12 Moors Valley parking (though it isnt bad for the layout of the place), then other side of the main road is Avon Valley park, couple of £ for parking, woodland walks, cafe, few other bits and pieces there.


Theres lots more but I figure that lot might take some sifting enjoy your holiday.

Great post from Snow Dog with lots of ideas. Arne is one of my favourite places for a walk through lovely countryside and views across Poole Harbour that you don't usually see. I'd visit as part of a drive round the Harbour, Wareham, Arne, Corfe Castle, Studland and Shell Bay (better beach than Sandbanks/Bournemouth) and back to Poole across the ferry.

Another day out that way could be Monkey World.

All some distance from the New Forest though. Good places to go for short but scenic walks in the Forest: Tall Trees walk from Blackwater car park off the Ornamental Drive, or Bolderwood car park with signposted walks and a good chance of seeing deer.

A couple of pubs in the Forest that we've enjoyed for food recently are Red Shoot Inn and the Trusty Servant in Minstead.

redpete wrote: »

Great post from Snow Dog with lots of ideas. Arne is one of my favourite places for a walk through lovely countryside and views across Poole Harbour that you don't usually see. I'd visit as part of a drive round the Harbour, Wareham, Arne, Corfe Castle, Studland and Shell Bay (better beach than Sandbanks/Bournemouth) and back to Poole across the ferry.

Another day out that way could be Monkey World.

All some distance from the New Forest though. Good places to go for short but scenic walks in the Forest: Tall Trees walk from Blackwater car park off the Ornamental Drive, or Bolderwood car park with signposted walks and a good chance of seeing deer.

A couple of pubs in the Forest that we've enjoyed for food recently are Red Shoot Inn and the Trusty Servant in Minstead.

The other pub in that area near the Red Shoot and the High Corner inn is the Alice Lisle, ate there a couple of times a year or so ago i think it was and its a nice pub and good grub.