Message Forums

To be honest I think that most people who camp in the New Forest do so to enjoy the wide open spaces of the forest itself rather than looking for sites with onsite activities and entertainment. . There are very few commercial sites in the forest  itself. Most are Forest Holiday (Forestry Commission sites) although two commercial sites that I know of within the forest bounderies are Red Shoot Campsite and Long Meadow Campsite near Brockenhurst. Of the Forest holiday sites I would say that Roundhill is the best. Hollands Wood is closer to habitation - Brockenhurst - but although I have stayed at this site several times the pitches are generally very worn and no effort appears to be made to repair them after a busy summer. Many are just bare earth pitches.Roundhill on the other hand appears to have large areas of open grassy  pitches with plenty of room for the kids to play.Aldridge Hill is also a very pleasant site but here you have to provide your own toilet facilities.

Long Meadow is becoming increasingly popular and although the toilets and showers are only in portacabins they are kept very clean. Pitches are very generous and are arranged in a big grid fashion so no one can stray on to your pitch. This site also has the attraction that a herd of deer live in the adjacent field and at night times wander thro' the camping field.

Never stopped at Red Shoot but I do know it's part of the pub next door. For me it is situated a little too far north of the New Forest as is Sandy balls and therefore that much further away from the south coast beaches.

Longmeadow Campsite is in the grounds of the New Forest Showground although it is a seperate field away from the showground itself. It does have electric hook ups around the edge of the field and a gateway leads directly into the forest irself. See here for more info

We're going to Hoburne Bashley for half-term, which is a smaller (but not much) version of Sandy Balls but just south of the New Forest. They don't accept tents but they have a couple of other sites nearby that do (all called Hoburne 'something'...).

Basically, you don't get 'small' Sandy Balls-type sites because they couldn't justify the outlay to install pools etc - they wouldn't make enough in pitch fees to pay for it all.

We've stayed at Hollands Wood, which is very large but only has toilet blocks, no other facilities (no EHU either). Great location for the site but it is very 'au naturel', horse poo everywhere, bare earth - proper English forest really. We like it but can understand if others don't.

Our first ever camping trip (in a tent) was to Red Shoot a few years ago. We had a great time but that was more because of the novelty - the site itself is just a large field with a very small kids playground and decent toilet block. Pretty expensive as well (all New Forest sites are)...

We're off to Nomansland in our caravan, north New Forest to a site £10 a night inc EHU.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/details.asp?revid=6707&map=on#maphere

Stayed at Sandy Balls in 2007 with a TT when the kids were younger, found it too large a site for us and it rained a lot so ruined the cycle riding.

You can always visit a public swimming pool for a swim and a pub for a drink rather than having it all on site.

Obviously the larger the site the larger the fees, Chestnut Meadow looks good especially if you have young children but a bit expensive.