Hope this is not too soft for some people
. Thought i would do a little review of this as i've just been on a short break with Sharon, Jed Jnr, Jack and Alfie. This could be an interesting holiday for those of us who have a family who do not fancy sleeping in a Tent / Tarp / Hammock (delete as applicable). These are holidays in wooden Cabins in various forests in the UK. At the moment i think there are three destinations; Cornwall, North Yorkshire and Perthshire. Run by the Forestry Commision, they give you the opportunity to drop off the radar so to speak, and spend time in the forests. If you like, you can spend the entire time in your cabin or driving around, exploring the local area. They do however, run activities for those who are interested. More on that later.
We went to the Cornwall site in Deerpark Forest. This is just North of Looe, South of Liskeard and west of Herodsfoot. There are a choice of cabins. Standard, enhanced and VIP. The difference, in layman's terms is this. Enhanced gives you a widescreen TV where as the standard means only a square box. The VIP however gives you a log burning stove, Jacuzzi pictures on the wall and different furniture and curtains. They do 6 person and 8 person cabins as well as a 6 person disabled cabin.
We chose standard 6 for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we did not intend to be watching much TV and secondly, as much as a Jacuzzi may be nice, they do not allow dog's in the VIP cabin's but they do in the other two. Electricity is by meter but you get a fully charged card with the price and it lasted us 5 days, if you need to top up, it's £5.
When we arrived the reception was VERY friendly and helpful. They gave us a welcome pack and a brochure telling us about that weeks activities. We took the directions to our cabin and found that when they said it was in the forest, they meant in the forest (see photo's)
The cabin was excellent. All cutlery and crockery were provided. There was a dishwasher, hob and oven, microwave, shower, two bedrooms with the option of turning the settee into a double bed. Everything you could need really. There was also a veranda with patio furniture. We could actually reach out and touch the Beech, Common Oak, Pin Oak and Goat Willow that virtually surrounded the cabin.
After unpacking, we had a look at the activities. As well as bike hire, we were given maps of the area illustrating the various standard walks (1/2 mile, 11/2 mile and 3 mile) but were told we could just go and explore so we found a few more. We were also given the rangers itinery. The ranger supplied activities every day, sometimes two a day. These included bat walks, badger watching, owl watching, deer and otter spotting, Tree and fauna talk and tour, fungi identification and uses, flora and forna identification and uses and a mineral tour amongst others. These are pitched at your chosen level. What this means is for childrens groups, he can go as low as three yrs old and gear the lesson around the needs of the predominant age group without excluding older and younger, or older with more experience or not. Our group consisted of......us! Just me and the family (didn't take the dogs on the tours though). This gave us a fantastic opportunity to have a ranger all to ourselves.
The tree identification walk and talk was scheduled for 2 hrs; it actually took 31/2 hrs and also encapsulated flora, forna, fungi and minerals before spotting various insects and wildlife which side tracked us not that it bothered us, the guy was a font of knowledge. It ended with us going back to his hut for herbal tea (complementary) and a chat about his proposed lessons for the future.
Sadly we missed the evening and night activities due to Jed Jnr being 18 months old (no stamina todays kids!) The activities cost around £3.00 for adults and children of a certain age go free, but it was well worth it.
We stayed from Monday to Friday, but they also do Friday to Monday breaks and Week long breaks. When we were not bothering the ranger, we were doing the forest walks with the dog's who loved it, or falling asleep infront of the 19" portable.
So, in summary, a fantastic short break for someone who doesnt fancy living outdoors but wants to learn about the outdoors. We learned so much from a knowledgable and professional staff and loved every minute. If i were to have one critisism it would be that i could not have a log burning stove because i have two dog's, but it really is a minor gripe. I've put the link at the bottom of the pictures just in case it takes your fancy
http://www.forest-holidays.com/RVEae73afe593394d8cb10c072f240a0550,,.aspx
. Thought i would do a little review of this as i've just been on a short break with Sharon, Jed Jnr, Jack and Alfie. This could be an interesting holiday for those of us who have a family who do not fancy sleeping in a Tent / Tarp / Hammock (delete as applicable). These are holidays in wooden Cabins in various forests in the UK. At the moment i think there are three destinations; Cornwall, North Yorkshire and Perthshire. Run by the Forestry Commision, they give you the opportunity to drop off the radar so to speak, and spend time in the forests. If you like, you can spend the entire time in your cabin or driving around, exploring the local area. They do however, run activities for those who are interested. More on that later. We went to the Cornwall site in Deerpark Forest. This is just North of Looe, South of Liskeard and west of Herodsfoot. There are a choice of cabins. Standard, enhanced and VIP. The difference, in layman's terms is this. Enhanced gives you a widescreen TV where as the standard means only a square box. The VIP however gives you a log burning stove, Jacuzzi pictures on the wall and different furniture and curtains. They do 6 person and 8 person cabins as well as a 6 person disabled cabin.
We chose standard 6 for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we did not intend to be watching much TV and secondly, as much as a Jacuzzi may be nice, they do not allow dog's in the VIP cabin's but they do in the other two. Electricity is by meter but you get a fully charged card with the price and it lasted us 5 days, if you need to top up, it's £5.
When we arrived the reception was VERY friendly and helpful. They gave us a welcome pack and a brochure telling us about that weeks activities. We took the directions to our cabin and found that when they said it was in the forest, they meant in the forest (see photo's)
The cabin was excellent. All cutlery and crockery were provided. There was a dishwasher, hob and oven, microwave, shower, two bedrooms with the option of turning the settee into a double bed. Everything you could need really. There was also a veranda with patio furniture. We could actually reach out and touch the Beech, Common Oak, Pin Oak and Goat Willow that virtually surrounded the cabin.
After unpacking, we had a look at the activities. As well as bike hire, we were given maps of the area illustrating the various standard walks (1/2 mile, 11/2 mile and 3 mile) but were told we could just go and explore so we found a few more. We were also given the rangers itinery. The ranger supplied activities every day, sometimes two a day. These included bat walks, badger watching, owl watching, deer and otter spotting, Tree and fauna talk and tour, fungi identification and uses, flora and forna identification and uses and a mineral tour amongst others. These are pitched at your chosen level. What this means is for childrens groups, he can go as low as three yrs old and gear the lesson around the needs of the predominant age group without excluding older and younger, or older with more experience or not. Our group consisted of......us! Just me and the family (didn't take the dogs on the tours though). This gave us a fantastic opportunity to have a ranger all to ourselves.
The tree identification walk and talk was scheduled for 2 hrs; it actually took 31/2 hrs and also encapsulated flora, forna, fungi and minerals before spotting various insects and wildlife which side tracked us
not that it bothered us, the guy was a font of knowledge. It ended with us going back to his hut for herbal tea (complementary) and a chat about his proposed lessons for the future.Sadly we missed the evening and night activities due to Jed Jnr being 18 months old (no stamina todays kids!) The activities cost around £3.00 for adults and children of a certain age go free, but it was well worth it.
We stayed from Monday to Friday, but they also do Friday to Monday breaks and Week long breaks. When we were not bothering the ranger, we were doing the forest walks with the dog's who loved it, or falling asleep infront of the 19" portable.
So, in summary, a fantastic short break for someone who doesnt fancy living outdoors but wants to learn about the outdoors. We learned so much from a knowledgable and professional staff and loved every minute. If i were to have one critisism it would be that i could not have a log burning stove because i have two dog's, but it really is a minor gripe. I've put the link at the bottom of the pictures just in case it takes your fancy
http://www.forest-holidays.com/RVEae73afe593394d8cb10c072f240a0550,,.aspx
