After 2 months of miserable weather we were getting a bit desperate for some sunshine and a chance to go camping again so we were happy to see the weather forecast looking good again. We decided to make the most of it and on Tuesday afternoon we drove down to the New Forest. We decided to try Hollands Wood campsite. It's a really nice site right in the forest (the ponies graze around you. Sometimes too close for comfort as you'll see from my photos!). You can hear some road noise but it didn't really bother us much. There are lots of birds - I saw a greater spotted woodpecker just as we got out the van. They even have a dog shower which we made use of after Pippin got quite muddy on a walk.
This was the view from our pitch:
We're trying to be organised about taking food so we don't end up eating out too much - partly because it gets expensive and also because we're still (yawn!) dieting. I did a chicken stir fry and rice on Tuesday evening. I used Uncle Ben's Express Egg Fried Rice as you only need to add a little bit of water. Boiling up a big pot of water to cook rice in a campervan is a pain. Takes too long and uses up too much gas! The rice isn't bad - not as nice as my homemade egg fried rice but I can live with it for the convenience. They do quite a few different flavours - I think we'll be using it a lot! They also do Risotto - will report back on that once we've tried it.
I'm really tempted to buy a Cobb oven to use when we go camping. They're pretty expensive but people who have them seem to rave about them! We're not great at BBQ-ing, mostly because we can't eat enough meat to make it worth the effort. It would be really nice to be able to roast some chicken and veg. Apparently you can do pizza and bread in them too.
On Wednesday morning we walked into Brockenhurst and had a look round. I bought some nice soap and some mint choc shower cream which smells lovely - from a nice little shop called Bubble. We walked back to the site and decided to walk through the forest to Lyndhurst.
I saw a Tawny Owl perched on a branch but not close enough to even attempt to get a photo sadly. Pippin had a great time sniffing and investigating everything within his reach! It was about 4 miles to Lyndhurst. We took some water with us & Pippin's collapsable bowl and stopped regularly to see if he wanted a drink. At Lyndhurst we found a pub with a patio out the back where dog's were allowed so we sat down with a nice cool drink to rest our feet for a while.
We got a bit lost on the way back - despite having a good map. It was quite hard to navigate in the forest as many of the 'paths' are quite difficult to see. Nevermind - we found our way back to the site and we saw quite a large herd of deer which we wouldn't have seen otherwise :-) Can you spot them?!
We were feeling a bit stiff on Thursday after all the walking (well, when I say 'we' I don't include Pippin - he seemed fine!) We had a leisurely breakfast with some lovely eggs from a friend's chickens - one had 2 yolks...
...and I took a few photos of some ponies snoozing. They looked very relaxed, with their chins resting on the ground.
We took a bus into Lymington (there is a stop not far from the site). We don't know if Pippin has been on a bus before - he was very good. We had a nice fish and chip lunch and a bit of a wander round the shops before getting the bus back and spending the evening enjoying the sun and the view. Pippin tucked into a treat we'd bought him earlier...
...then had a snooze!
The ponies I'd photographed earlier wandered up to our pitch and had a good nose around. We had to sit in the van with the door shut as Pippin didn't like them so close and started barking at them! I got out to take some photos - obviously the grass underneath the van must be the tastiest!
Then again, maybe the van is tasty too?!
