AD | A Weekend in the New Forest with Away Resorts

I love a good weekend break. It’s nice to break up a few holiday-less weeks with some time away. Especially when we’re like passing ships in the night with how busy we both are. The other weekend we headed for some down time at Away Resorts in the New Forest.

We took off a Friday afternoon and tried to beat the traffic to our stay at Sandy Balls Resort. Yes get your sniggering out of the way now! We had a luxury cabin booked for two nights and our plans mainly involved eating, exploring and a bit of telly watching in our cosy cabin. Away Resorts have recently invested a lot of money in doing the holiday site up, putting in newer cabins and adventure playgrounds. It really is geared towards families with it’s village centre. But I like to think we had a good grown ups weekend stay.

Our Luxury Cabin

First up when we arrived at our cabin I was stunned by how gorgeous it was inside. I think Dr W was pleasantly surprised too. We walked into a large living area with a sofa that was perfect for the two of us. There was the most well equipped kitchen, I was so impressed (gas hob too! Woo!) and a little dining area. We were genuinely excited to spend our weekend here. On arrival we were also greeted with a welcome pack, included in a luxury cabin. BGut not to worry if you are staying in a different cabin, you can add to your stay for £20. It includes milk, tea, sugar, chocolates, prosecco and a bottle of squash. The perfect little pack to get you started. We definitely enjoyed the ice cold prosecco on arrival!

Exploring the Area

On the Saturday exploring commenced. As you know we are trail running fans and with my impending half marathon we headed out to run/walk 10 miles. This was the perfect chance for us to get outside and enjoy our surroundings. The New Forest is a Forestry Commission area. There are a number of well marked smaller walks/cycle routes. We saw quite a lot of families out on bikes, which was lovely. Side fact – you can hire bikes at Sandy Balls if you didn’t bring your own. We of course also saw the animals that roam the New Forest. Donkeys, cows, pigs and of course New Forest ponies. But we also spotted an adder! They’re super rare and it scuttled off before I could get a pic. It was the first time I’d seen a snake in the wild, it was pretty awesome. We did really enjoy exploring and had amazing weather for it.

Well Deserved Pub Grub

After our epic exploration of the New Forest we headed to the nearest pub to home. The Fighting Cocks is a short walk from the resort and a lovely pub. It is dog friendly (yay puppers) and a donkey might block the road and provide entertainment whilst you drink/eat. The menu is proper pub fair. I go for sausage, egg and chips, Dr goes for ham, egg and chips. Just what we needed after a long run/walk. We of course washed this down with some Boondoggle, a beer from a local brewery. We were in the pub for some time, as it was just so chilled/relaxing. If you’re staying nearby or passing by (there’s parking) I would really recommend.

We spent our second night lazing in front of the telly streaming some programs on catch up. We found a great Chinese in Fordingbridge called New Wongs Garden and I would recommend if you’re staying here. The cabin was wonderfully cosy so we took the time to enjoy it. I think for us, this was a lovely little get away. But there’s no denying that Away Resorts are family centred. You have a lovely little base for your time away, with lots of child friendly facilities on site but also lots of things to visit around you.