22nd October 2007


Took a relaxed view of 'going on holiday' this time and slowly got ready. Things got a bit less relaxed the closer we got to noon, and we were not helped by the fact that when we left I realised that I had forgotten not only my swimming costume but also my pyjamas.


Compounding matters further was the stupid petrol station pumps not reaching the car and the scheduled but inconvenient stop off at David Lloyd to drop off a cheque for books at the nursery.


If I was organised we'd save so much time, but I would be very frightening and have no friends, it's not worth the sacrifice.


The M1 was busy and slow, the M25 was ok but slow in places, the M3 was good as was the journey up to Fordingbridge.


On arrival we got our lodge, number 303, straight away and were very pleased with it. Steve looked at the static caravans rather sniffily, conveniently forgetting that he wanted to book one in the first place.

We did the normal stuff, unpacked, told Pippy off about 48 times in 5 minutes. Told the boys off for fighting 47 times. Went for a walk to explore the place. There is a really nice visitors centre. A bit like a central plaza, there is Guest Services where you can book activities, ask questions, buy gifts. There is a big posh and probably expensive Bistro, a childrens activities centre with a soft play area for the under 5's, another games place with pool and slot machines. A Spar selling food and other necessities at inflated prices for the convenience. An indoor swimming pool and spa area. Finally there is the Woodside Inn which is also the function room.

We went for a walk to what we thought was the river, and although it was a river in the end, it was a lot longer and steeper than we envisaged. No matter, we went, we didn't kill ourselves, we got back in one piece.


Although the whining about hiring bikes had started, we had silently agreed that we'd only hire the bikes when we had a full day to use them as it wasn't cheap. We'd make very good torture victims as we did not bend an inch to the plaintive requests.




Bedtime came soon enough,but Pippy put up a brave and noisy fight.