We have lived in Hampshire for the past 27 years but have never really spent any time exploring the New Forest which is on our doorstep, however last weekend we decided to change this. Fiona and I booked a 2 night stay at the Holmsley site in the Forest, loaded up the van with everything we might need for 2 nights away, and headed off to Ashurst and beyond. On arrival at Holmsley on the Sunday afternoon we booked in, filled the fresh water tank and found a decent level hardstanding pitch for our stay. Within a few minutes we had connected up to the site electric supply, unloaded and setup the BBQ and picnic stuff; we unwound the awning then relaxed, opened the bottle of wine and cooked our dinner.
Holmsley is a nice quiet and relaxing place. A large number of New Forest ponies loitered outside of the campsite, being kept out by the cattle grids and fences. There were a quite a number of very young ponies which were cute.
The campsite is an ex-RAF wartime airbase and quite a lot of the concrete aircraft ‘parking’ spots continue to be used, although today they are the ‘hardstanding’ pitches.
On the Monday of our first full day at Holsley we used our bikes to explore the surrounding area, stopping for a pub lunch at the Crown in Bransgore before cycling (and walking) back to the campsite in the late afternoon sun. Another bottle of wine was consumed during dinner, which comprised of Kangaroo steaks cooked on the BBQ, followed by relaxation out of doors until it became too cold to stay outside.
Much to our relief there were cattle grids and fences protecting the campsite from the numerous ponies and cattle, the ponies seemed to have a desire to stampede around in the early mornings.