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We're looking into hiring a lodge next January - I have a special birthday in 2012!  

I'm currently looking at their Forest of Dean site and Keldy in N Yorks.  I'd like the Golden Oak lodge and ideally it needs to be pet friendly.

Has anyone been to these sites and stayed in one of their lodges?

All comments welcome - thanks

Hi

We have stayed at the forest of dean site a couple of times for weekends and the Cropton site for one week which is very near the Keldy site.  We had silver accomodation with a hot tub so cant say much about gold.

We really liked both - i felt that the north yorkshire sites felt a little more remote as pretty much all the forest of dean lodges seem to overlook each other.  Both are in lovely parts of the country.

The lodges are all still quite new esp. the forest of dean which only opened last year and they are lovely - you could even order pizza from the tv at the forest of dean and they bring direct to your lodge - however they were very average.

Let me know if you want to know anything else/

Hi

Thanks for posting. Not sure now on The Forest of Dean as I wanted a bit of privacy .  On the other hand I know that the lodges at this site are very new.

Hubby is favouring Keldy as although we've stayed "up north" it was on the coast and it's been years since we've been this way.

Although, FOD would only be around a 90 min drive..... decisions, decisions 

Hi

We stay at keldy each January, we like it very much and stay in the golden oak. The only thing I would say is that last time the cabin seemed a little bit tired.  However it won't stop me going again next year. 

The other problem we've had is the snow.  Last year we drove fine for 90 mins to pickering and then when we got on the smaller roads just outside of pickering it was thick snow.  We got stuck several times but then a very nice local farmer helped tow us the rest of the way.  The last 4 miles took us about  2 hours  It didn't stop us going back this year though, we bought snow socks just incase.  I will say the site when covered in snow is absolutely gorgeous.  It was one of the best holidays I've ever had.

Hi there dizzzy

Thanks for the input . I must admit I'm a bit concerned about the weather conditions as we'd be going during the first part of January and we've had a couple of bad winters .  Although we do have a 4x4, I would still worry if conditions are bad. A nice covering of snow (once we've arrived and settled) would be fab tho' . 

On a separate note... is the electric for the hot tub included in the price??

Yes it is included in the price.  Wouldn't like to think how much it costs to heat one of those.  Last year my mum and dad were with us in another cabin and when we first got there their hot tub was cold.  They asked about it and apparently the last people had left it a bit of a state so they had, had to empty it.  By the next morning it was nice and hot.  They didn't complain though, to us it just shows that they do maintain them properly.

The biggest problem with the snow was the last two miles down into the site.  There are drops on both sides of the single track road and it's downhill.  The farmer advised not to use our brakes just use our gears which is fine but going downhill and round bends it was a little bit hair raising  They have got a tractor at the site and they do try and clear the road.  I think we'd just timed it really badly and the snow had come down very suddenly.  We couldn't park our car at the cabin as it would've been impossible to drive to it.  All cars were left in the car park and they put our luggage on the tractor and took it up for us.  We had to bring it back down ourselves though which is when suitcases with wheels come in handy along with sledges

Like I said in my other post though I would still go again even in the same conditions.  I must be mad but it was great,  it was definatley an adventure.  We haven't got a 4x4 but we still made it (just).  Having said that the roads were perfectly clear with no snow untill we got on the outskirts of pickering.  It was really unbeliveable how quickly it changed.

Whichever you choose I'm sure you will enjoy it.

I go to Keldy each December and February and stay in a Golden Oak Cabin.

I agree that they are now starting to look tired, however, even though the Cropton site is 2 miles away and very new, the cabins are in a clearing virtually overlooking the caravan site and in my opinion are not a patch on Keldy for the surroundings.

Keldy is most definitely within the woods, we have a squirrel on our balcony every morning along with numerous birds who all come along to feast on the bird seed and nuts we take for them.

The hot tub is fabulous!

I just wish it wasn't so very expensive during the summer months or I would be there a lot more. :)