AD - Press Trip | I had such a great weekend at @p AD - Press Trip | I had such a great weekend at @pottersresortsfivelakes with @slwilson84. It was an action packed three nights with a full activity and entertainment programme, great food, lovely drinks and beautiful surroundings. 

The staff go above and beyond to make everyone feel at home and they ensure that everyone has the best time possible. I don’t think I stopped smiling all weekend.

The best thing about Potters holidays is that everything is included in the price you pay. Four meals a day, all your drinks - including wine, Prosecco, most spirits and soft drinks - great accommodation and so many activities. 

I’ll write a full review soon but for now here’s a little Reel of our weekend
I always have a lot of questions about accommodati I always have a lot of questions about accommodation when we stay anywhere as a family so I thought I’d share this little tour of our room at @windjammerlanding which was a pretty perfect place to stay.

It’s the ‘Ocean View Two Bedroom’ which was like a little house, with an upstairs and downstairs, built into the hillside. Both rooms had outdoor space and their own shower rooms. Such a great option for a family.
A little photo dump from our holiday in St Lucia. A little photo dump from our holiday in St Lucia. We’ve been back a few days now but still miss the heat, the food, the pool, the constant sounds of wildlife and the lovely people. It was such a great holiday and I’m sure we’ll be back one day.
And just like that, Athena is 12! What a joy it is And just like that, Athena is 12! What a joy it is watching her grow and what a wonderful young woman she is becoming. We could not be more proud. Love you Pickle, have a great birthday.
We’ve just got back from two glorious weeks in S We’ve just got back from two glorious weeks in St Lucia staying at @windjammerlanding and it was just the holiday we needed. Two weeks of sunshine and relaxation in what must be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. 

We can’t wait to go back again in the future. Here’s just a little snippet of our trip.
AD - Press Tickets | We had such a nice day at @na AD - Press Tickets | We had such a nice day at @national_motor_museum despite the rain! The children loved the Little Beaulieu play area and we loved exploring the National Motor Museum and Top Gear exhibit before having a ride on the monorail! We went on an old open topped bus, explored the Beaulieu Manor House and loved the gardens. 
Beaulieu is always a great day out - whatever the weather. This summer they have a whole ‘Summer of Fun’ planned, with activities most days - parades, bird shows and hundreds of sculptures within the grounds too. If you’re looking for a day out this summer definitely think about heading to Beaulieu.
AD - Press Tickets | Tonight we took the kids to t AD - Press Tickets | Tonight we took the kids to their first concert - but it was so much more than just a concert! @abbavoyage is incredible. With CGI ABBA and a live band, it’s like being at an ABBA concert 40 years ago but with modern lighting, effects and sound. ABBA look and sound real, it’s a mind blowing experience.
The set includes all the songs you know and love as well as a few less familiar ones.
You can’t take photos during the show which actually made a refreshing change. A whole arena focused purely on the show and soaking up the moment. It’s definitely something the four of us will always remember.
Now, I’m off to sing Dancing Queen all the way home.
AD - Press Trip | We had such a great day at @phdo AD - Press Trip | We had such a great day at @phdockyard today. They have a fantastic Ultimate Explorer ticket that lets you visit all the attractions as many times as you like for 12 months - and after a day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard we can see that you need more than one day to really do everything!

We explored HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose Exhibition - which is incredible! We also saw where ships are built and restored and spent time in Action Stations where the kids climbed and did an assault course.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is such a fun, educational day out with something for all ages - we can’t wait to go on their harbour tours next time we visit!
AD | WIN!! Would you love to win a holiday? To cel AD | WIN!! Would you love to win a holiday? To celebrate #100YearOfARoads National Highways have launched their #ARoadsToSummer competition! It's all about celebrating summer holiday moments, time together, fun in the sun, days out and more.

So why not be in it to win it? To enter, all you have to do is send @nationalhways a DM on here with a photo or video of your favourite holiday moments. You can also comment on their Facebook or Twitter #ARoadsToSummer posts with your holiday photos. I've shared a few of our favourite photos to give you some inspiration.

The best six entries will each win a £500 @nationaltrust holidays voucher! SO what are you waiting for? Dig out your favourite holiday photos or take some new ones to share!

The #ARoadsToSummer competition runs from 24 July to 10 September 2023. Winners will be announced in September 2023.

Good luck!
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Hampshire, Holidays & Accomodation, Reviews, Travel · June 26, 2014

Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park, Hampshire – Review

Disclosure: We were invited on this break for the purpose of this review however all opinions are my own.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to spend a few days at Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park in New Milton, Hampshire in the heart of the New Forest. We booked the self catering weekend away a few months ago and were really looking forward to it – Bashley is Hoburne’s flagship caravan park and has been undergoing a refurbishment on their swimming pool so we were excited to see what Hoburne Bashley had to offer.

What should we expect on a Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park break?

We arrived at Hoburne Bashley just after the 4pm check in time on the Friday and were given a welcome pack, directions to our Platinum Caravan and our keys. I was impressed with the location of the caravan as we couldn’t be nearer to the clubhouse, swimming pool and other amenities. There was also parking directly outside our caravan so we didn’t have to walk very far with our bags. The caravan looked welcoming – surrounded by decking and complete with garden furniture. The decking is gated too, complete with a lock to create a safe play area for the children. Unfortunately there wasn’t a key to the gate on our keys and I didn’t think to ask about it to reception until our last full day when we were given the key – It had come detached from our set of keys before they gave them to us.

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

The Platinum Caravan was great – Central heating, double glazing, freeview TV and dishwasher as well as three bedrooms – Two twins and a double. The lovely people at Hoburne had even taken one of the beds out of one of the bedrooms so that we could accommodate the travel cot which was hired from Hoburne along with two high chairs and a bed guard – This saved space in our car as well as just making things easier for us and it’s great that Hoburne have so many options to make holidaying with children that much easier.

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

The caravan really couldn’t have been better and when we arrived we were met with a welcome box of teabags and coffee as well as a pint of milk in the fridge, such a lovely touch and completely unexpected. There was also a pack containing dishwasher tablets, washing up liquid, bin bags and a washing up sponge – Everything you need to get started on your break. The only slight criticisms I could have is that the caravan was very warm and we opened windows all day to try and cool it down, not an issue as I’m sure in the winter we’d be appreciative of it. Also, the smoke alarm was incredibly sensitive and went off every morning when we were cooking breakfast – No, Dave didn’t burn it! I guess the smoke alarm is positioned directly next to the kitchen for safety so again this can’t really be helped. The final thing is that none of the blinds in the caravan have safety devices fitted to the cords, and the cords are very long. From a child safety perspective, I would prefer the cords to be fixed out of harm’s way, but as the children were always supervised in the lounge where the blinds were, this wasn’t an issue. Overall, the caravan was a perfect home from home and we couldn’t have asked for more. Platinum caravans even come with towels provided too, a great bonus!

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

What is the Hoburne Bashley site like?

Bashley Park is lovely for camping and caravan holidays with touring fields as well as static caravans all situated around the main amenities. Reception is bright and airy with toilets and a lovely seating area which you walk through to get to the entertainment room, the restaurant, bar, arcade and leisure complex. We had dinner in the restaurant on our first night and the menu was what you would expect from any family pub chain. The prices were very reasonable and we were impressed by the portion sizes when our food arrived. There is also a takeaway service available or you can have delivery to your caravan for only a £1 charge!

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

What is there to do at Hoburne Bashley?

We spent time with LP watching Sammy Seahorse and Tommy Turtle both in the children’s entertainment shows and walking around the site. The entertainers do a fantastic job and although LP was incredibly shy she loved seeing the characters walking around and dancing around on stage.

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

LP also loved the arcade and I got to introduce her to one of my passions from childhood – 2p machines! This was a little highlight of ours and LP happily put 50p of 2ps into the machines over and over again until she ran out! I was pleased to see 2p machines in the arcade as often there are only video games and fruit machines, nothing of lower cost that’s fun for all the family.

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

I was also looking forward to letting LP loose in the soft play area, but this was a little underwhelming. It’s situated in an alcove so is quite dark and although two levels, it doesn’t come across as the most welcoming of soft play areas and lacks a ball pool although there is a section that would be ideal for this. There’s also a ‘pay per ride’ bus situated right next to the soft play which makes the area quite busy. This is the one part of Hoburne Bashley that I think could be improved with minimal effort.

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

The Hoburne Bashley swimming and leisure complex is fantastic, having undergone their recent renovation. The indoor pool has a lot of different areas to occupy children of all ages and even have a water play area separate from the swimming pool which Little Man loved. At it’s deepest the pool is only 1.3m deep which is a great depth for a family pool. there was also a spa pool, sauna and steam room. The changing rooms were great, one of the nicest changing rooms I’ve seen, with individual changing rooms and family rooms all with benches all with benches – that were installed on our last day. There are also plenty of lockers, hair drying units and plenty of toilets and sinks dotted around. From the main swimming pool you also have access to the outdoor pool. I was disappointed that we were unable to use the main outdoor pool as renovation works were still underway, however the outdoor splash pool was open and looked great – The whole outdoor space will be a real feature of Hoburne Bashley when it’s finished.

There is a shop on the Hoburne park that sells most things you would need during your stay, milk, bread, newspapers etc but you’d need to travel further afield for a full shop although this is to be expected on any holiday park. Hoburne Bashley also has a gym, launderette, cycle hire and mini bowling alley amongst many other additional facilities.

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

Whilst we stayed at Hoburne Bashley it was American Week – with American Civil War reenactments, classic American cars and other American themed entertainment. This was definitely different and it was nice to see people dressed in character walking around the park. The ‘Americans’ were camping next to Hoburne’s Adventure Playground and Crazy Golf. It was definitely an experience to be pushing the children on the swings whilst the American Civil War was going on in the background!

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

The children loved the Adventure Playground, it’s very well maintained and has a lot of different things to do for different ages – Swings, climbing frames, slides and even a zip line! LP played on all the smaller climbing frames and even went on the big slide with a little help from me. Dave and I may have even had a go on the zipline – It really was fun for all the family!

Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire
Review: Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park - Hampshire

Overall our stay at Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park Hampshire was a lovely break at a perfect family holiday park and a great alternative to a hotel. The staff were all friendly, great with children and a credit to Hoburne holidays. I’ll definitely be holidaying at a Hoburne holiday park again in the future.

Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park, Hampshire - Review

In: Hampshire, Holidays & Accomodation, Reviews, Travel

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Comments

  1. Katie says

    June 26, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    The caravan looks so much more spacious/swishy than i would have imagined! x

    Reply
  2. The Reading Residence says

    June 26, 2014 at 6:45 pm

    We’ve stayed there before, and I’d definitely recommend it – a great park.

    Reply
    • Donna Wishart says

      June 26, 2014 at 6:50 pm

      I’d love to go back, just need to convince Hubby to stay in a caravan again! x

      Reply
  3. Mary @ Over 40 and a Mum to One says

    June 28, 2014 at 10:39 pm

    That looks lovely, caravan parks have certainly improved since I was a child.

    Reply
  4. Jaime Oliver says

    July 2, 2014 at 7:10 pm

    Wow Donna this looks so fab, the last caravan holiday we went on was dire so its nice to see that some locations are exceeding expectations x

    Reply
  5. Mummy to boyz says

    July 15, 2014 at 9:53 pm

    It looks similar to the platinum van we had at haven recently – the enclosed decking area was a god send for us too.

    Reply

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Hi everyone! I'm Donna. Mummy. Blogger. Social Media Manager. Traveller. Lover of stars, rainbows and gin. Firm believer that tea and cake can fix most things.

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