Exploring Royal Victoria Country Park Hampshire
Earlier this month we ventured to Royal Victoria Country Park for the first time. Hampshire has so much green space and so many country parks that it’s taking us a while to explore them all!
Where is Royal Victoria Country Park?
Royal Victoria Country Park is about an hour from us on the Hampshire coast, near Southampton. It’s free to visit and you just need to pay for car parking. Plus, there are cafes and little shops on the site too, making it a great location for a full day out, a dog walk or just to stretch your legs.
What is Royal Victoria Country Park?
Royal Victoria Country Park is home to the Royal Victoria Chapel which was once part of the Royal Victoria Military Hospital. Throughout the country park there are information boards to teach you about the history of the site, dating all the way back to The Crimean War in 1854.
The Royal Victoria Military Hospital was on the site for such a long time, throughout the The Crimean War, The Second Boer War, The Battle of the Somme and the two world wars. It had various additions built over time and even had a railway line servicing it at one point and a pier for boat access too.
What can you do at Royal Victoria Country Park?
As well as learning about the history of Royal Victoria Country Park, there is also fantastic play areas for all ages, with swings, climbing structures and slides. Although LP and Little Man are older now, they still loved going on the swings, It’s a real simple joy of childhood!
There’s also a miniature train that runs throughout the day – ยฃ1.75 per adult and ยฃ1.25 per child – and a beach too. This was such a novelty as we have never been to a coastal country park before and loved walking along the coast.
Searching for sea glass at Royal Victoria Country Park
We spent a chunk of our time at Royal Victoria Country Park looking for sea glass on the coast, looking out to Southampton water – and found quite a lot in the end. It was such a nice activity to do as a family whilst also skimming stones and seeing all the other things that had been washed up on the shore!
We could have spent all day on the beach and it stretches quite far along the coast. The section right in front of the main country park was quite busy but we wander a little way in either direction and it was lovely and quiet!
The Royal Victoria Country Park chapel
When we visited the Royal Victoria Country Park chapel had a craft fair on so we went inside and wandered around the stalls. It is such a beautiful building and you can even go up to the top of the tower for a small fee – ยฃ4 for adults and ยฃ2.50 for children. We didn’t go up as we thought it would give us an excuse to visit again in the future!
Royal Victoria Country Park was one of the nicest country parks we have visited. It’s well maintained, with toilets and seating everywhere. It was really popular with older couples, dog walkers and families and we felt like we fit right in! It was lovely.
We’ll definitely be visiting again in the future – to climb the tower, find more sea glass and maybe have lunch in the cafe too. I’m looking forward to it already.
You can find out more about Royal Victoria Country Park over on their website and for reference the address is: Netley Abbey, Southampton SO31 5GA
