Review 2014: The Vyne

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 11th April 2014 in Reviews of Days Out, Walks 0 Comment

Vyne Road, Sherborne St John, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG24 9HL

We went to the Vyne last weekend and had a fabulous time. It was when the weather was gorgeous and it felt like the first day of spring.

We spent a long time in the Walled Garden, playing on the toys and talking to the chickens.

We then went to the Hobbit play area and had a brilliant time!

We finished off our morning lying on our picnic rug on the lawn in front of the house, people watching and looking out for aeroplanes!

Play

There is LOADS to do at the Vyne. As soon as you walk in, there are the lakes which have HUGE black fish in. You then walk over the mini waterfall (at least, I think that’s what it’s called).

Keep walking up the main path, towards the house and on your left is the Walled Garden.

There are bouncing toys and mini tractors that you can play on and picnic tables which have different types of tracks laid out (don’t forget your toy cars for this!).

We also had a look in the green house and spent some time looking at the chickens.

As you come out of the walled Garden you walk towards the house through a promenade of trees. I love this bit! Lol.

As you walk towards the house, you pass the tea rooms and you can also sit outside as there is an outside booth selling ice creams, etc.

Behind the Gift Shop is the new Hobbit play area. It’s fantastic and I want one of the tunnels for our garden! Miss NHM enjoyed flinging herself down the fireman’s pole with Daddy to catch her at the bottom!

We spent a long time lying on our picnic blanket on the lawns and people watching. There is also the forest behind, Morgesten Woods, which is lovely to walk through, but not much fun without an off road pushchair. We didn’t make it here this time.

Tips

I wouldn’t take anyone under the age of 5 into the house. This is because I wouldn’t want to control an under 5 in a stately home that it isn’t practical to take pushchairs into. However, you can borrow a hip carrying infant seat, which might be a good solution for very small little ones.

Get here early, to avoid the crowds. If the weather is nice, you will get the pick of the best deckchairs which are laid out on the lawn between the house and the main lake.

Food

Is excellent but pricey. We took a picnic with us but I have eaten here before and the Sunday lunches are very yummy.

Facilities

Are excellent and all eco.

Baby Facilities

The baby changing facilities are also excellent quality.There is one near the entrance when you arrive and one behind the restaurant.

Parking

Is free and there is loads. If you can’t find a space in the main car park then park in the overflow which has loads of space

Prices

£7.50 for adults to enter the grounds only.
Children under the age of 5 are free or £4 over the age of five
£22 for a family ticket.If you plan to visit a lot of National Trust properties, it may be worth investing in a year pass. Check out the details from last years Season ticket post.

Rating out of 5

5 out of 5 because we had such a lovely day, although I’m sure this was helped by the lovely weather.

Other Reviews

2014

Swanage

Miller’s Ark, Nr Hook

2013

Lakeside Country Park

Paulton’s Park/Peppa Pig World

NorthDown Orchard Deliveries

Review 2013: Farleigh Mount

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 3rd September 2013 in Reviews of Days Out, Walks 0 Comment

Farleigh Mount Country Park, Winchester

Farley Mt Rd Hursley SO21 2

I love Farleigh Mount. It’s another place that I’ve been going too, on and off, for the past 30 years. (EEK! lol).

It’s about 30 minutes drive from Basingstoke, and not so easy to find, so you need directions or a sat nav.

I still haven’t managed to find the monument though. After 30 years of visiting the country park, it’s a must do and looks great for a picnic. Definiately on my list of things to do later this year!

Play

I took Miss NHM this weekend, because the weather was lovely and I knew she needed to run around a bit. We used to park in Crabtree car park, but now I always park at the car park at the end of that road.

Crabtree car park has two fixed BBQ’s which are available for the public to use. There are also picnic benches, so it’s a great place to organise a meet-up as the area is big enough to keep an eye on little ones, but flat enough for them to run around easily.

We park in the car park at the end of the main road. Miss NHM thoroughly enjoyed running down the big hill (but boy did she whine on the way back! lol). If you get to the bottom of the hill and then turn left, you can find the children’s playground. It’s very similar to the Basing Wood playground, but we spent much longer here than at the Basing Wood one, possibly because it’s far more shaded at Farleigh Mount. Miss NHM loved jumping across the stones (with a little assistance) and we spent a long time walking up and down the tree branches.

Miss NHM has never been that big a fan of swings, but she spent ages playing on and around the swings. It helped that we had the play park to ourselves.

We then ventured across to the big triangular structure, which I’d seen before but never explored. We spent about 40 minutes playing in and on the triangular structure. Miss NHM loved climbing on it, even though I was a little bit worried about this!

She also really liked the huge wooden Spider that we spent a lot of time playing on and around.

Farleigh Mount is great for little one’s who have bikes and there are loads of walking routes. We didn’t do any this time as I didn’t have the pushchair with me and I knew Miss NHM wouldn’t be able to walk too far after an hour of being in the play area. When she’s a bit bigger, we will do a lot more exploring!

We then walked back through the “cow pat field”. Part of the hill next to the play park has cows roaming in it. We tried to find them, but no luck, although Miss NHM now knows how to say “cow pat!”

It took ages to motivate Miss NHM to walk up the hill but I then decided we would park up in a car park further along the way and have our picnic there. We ended up having the field to ourselves for over 40 minutes and had an awesome picnic. There were lots of flowers to look at and the field was full of bumblebees and butterflies. One butterfly even landed on Miss NHM’s face, which she wasn’t to happy about!

It really was a lovely day out. I always have a fab time at Farleigh Mount.

Tips

If you don’t like dogs, avoid Farleigh Mount. It’s a dog walkers paradise and there are lots of dogs.

Kelly also mentioned in the comments, to be aware of Ticks.

Food

N/A but there is a Farm Shop very nearby which is open on weekdays and Saturdays and Winchester Waitrose isn’t too far away.

Facilities

N/A apart from the outdoor BBQ facilities

Baby Facilities

None, but in a place like this, you can change them anywhere really.

Parking

Lots of it and all free.

Prices

FREE!

Rating 5 out of 5

Review 2013: Basing Lime Pits

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 18th July 2013 in Reviews of Days Out, Walks 0 Comment

Basing Lime Pits

Redbridge Ln, Old Basing, Hampshire RG21 4 ‎

We went to Basing Lime pits a few weekends ago, early on a Sunday morning. We had most of the place to ourselves. I did see a fox though, so that was exciting!

Play

There are four different areas in Basing Lime Pits. The main area is the play park, which has two different types of swings, a couple of climbing frames and a massive slide, which my little one loved! Behind the park is also a red rope climbing frame (like the one in Eastrop park) and there are two BBQ’s and lots of picnic tables. There is also a big hill you can walk up or walk around.

The second area is my favourite, which is towards the back of the park. There is a train climbing frame with one carriage that you can sit in!!! I love this little train. It’s so cute and my little one loved climbing into it and then sitting on all of the different seats in the carriage. If you walk under the bridged (that you can also walk across) there is a slide behind, and we spent a long time playing on this too.

The third area is the “natural” amiptheatre, which is a hollowed out area with a huge hill behind it. We wondered around this and my little one loved running across it. It would be great to see a play here!

The fourth area is in between the two car parks and is a grassy area with press up/push up bars, etc. This would be a lovely area for a picnic, as it’s quite shaded and there are a couple of picnic benches. The top of the very large slide can be accessed from here and you can walk back to main car park from here.

We spent an hour and a half exploring and had a lovely time wandering around and using the big slide a LOT! lol.

Food

Not available but there are some lovely areas to sit and have a picnic.

Facilities

There aren’t any facilities at Basing Lime Pits. However, there are enough bushes if your little one’s are caught short!

Baby Facilities

I don’t think anyone minds people changing nappies in a park!!! lol.

Parking

Is free! But the car park isn’t very well tarmacked, so it can be a bit bumpy going in . There are about 10 car park spaces in the first car park and then 10 car park spaces in the main car park. However, there is space to park on the road if needed.

Be aware, if you are heading to Basing Lime Pits from Old Basing, there is a blind bridge, so you need to be very careful and go very slowly as the road on the bridge is very narrow and you can’t see any oncoming traffic.

Prices

Free!!!

Rating out of 4.7 out of 5

There is a lot of litter on the entrance way and the car park could be better paved.

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Review 2013: Basing Wood

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 2nd July 2013 in Reviews of Days Out, Walks 0 Comment

Basing Wood

Did you know, that we have our own equivalent to Alice Holt Forest in Basingstoke? Basing Wood, or Carpenters Down as I’ve always known it, is a fantastic huge expanse of woodland, with trails, picnic benches, a Woodland Trail, a nature play ground and the chance to spot a Deer. It’s completely free, you don’t even need to pay parking.

I’ve been walking in Basing Wood for more than 30 years. Eek!! I remember when it used to have the National Trust sign at the entrance. I realised yesterday, when we were walking through the forest, that I remember when certain bits of the forest were originally planted with sapplings. Those trees are fully flourished now, and you can’t tell that they are less than 30 years old. Gosh, that makes me sounds ancient! lol.

We were there on Sunday and we had most of the forest to ourselves. In fact, we didn’t see a soul for over an hour, as we went deeper into the forest. It’s a great place for getting away from it all, for getting some fresh air, rain or shine, and for exhausting your children so they sleep well ;-).

If you would prefer that someone showed you the trails within the Forest, Emma at BuggyFit does a class on Monday’s and Friday’s in the Wood.

This is the address to find Basing Wood: Popley Fields Community Centre/Carpenters Down Basingstoke RG24 9AE

Play

There is a “natural” play park at the top of the hill (no idea what the official term of it is). You can see from the photo’s below that its great for Toddlers. The few times we have been in the forest recently, we have had it to ourselves (although, I may regret this post soon! lol). They have swings, tunnels, tree stumps, stone blocks and all sorts of other things that you can swing, clamber, climb, run through, jump over, etc. etc. We always spend at least 30 minutes here, just running around the park.

I absolutely love the woodland trail, which is just a short walk away from the play park. The wooden animals are brilliant and my Little One loves crawling over them, stroking them, and trying to feed them stones! lol. When I’ve been on my own with my Little One, we have walked up to the end of the woodland trail, as I can’t push the pushchair up the hill because of the remnants of my SPD. She can manage to walk to the end of the Woodland trail and back, at 2 years, 3 months old. (This may help, if you are wondering if you can take your little one without a pushchair).

We also walked through the outdoor Parkour site (as it’s called on Google Maps) and this was great to explore. It’s good for older children, as they can swing on the pipes that are attached to the roof. This is half way up the hill, on the way in, and is a large wooden structure with extra “bits” to it.

The forest is a great place for a picnic. There are picnic benches in the play park at the top of the hill and the odd bench dotted through the forest. However, if you take a picnic blanket with you, you don’t need to worry about where you sit. ;-). There is also a really large grassy area next to the forest, but a lot of dog walkers use this area, so beware of where you are sitting.

One of the great things that I love about this forest, is that you can nearly always spot a deer if you are quiet and standing in the right place. We saw one with my little one a few weeks ago and she was mesmerised. We couldn’t have been more than 25 meters away from it.