Just under 2 months ago, I got an email from a motorhome guru, as part of their regular newsletter. It said that Forestry England would be trialling off-grid style, self-sufficient camping spots at a handful of UK locations this summer, as part of a trial similar to one Scotland ran a while back (which was a success!). You could book to stay up to 2 nights at one of these locations, for £16 a night and could stay as long as you are self-sufficient (own cooking facilities and sanitation). We jumped at the chance!
I immediately booked up 2 nights at Wendover Woods, as it was our closest one at that point (but the other locations looked gorgeous too!). Turning up on our arrival date was really exciting as we couldn’t wait to try sleeping in the forest in Sassy, our motorhome. It was seamless… we arrived, the number plate recognition kicked in, the barriers lifted and we followed signs to the designated campervan stopover area.
We set our front wheels up on chocks, as we would need a stable base for our fridge to be able to pull power from the gas. There was no electric hook up here, no water supply, no bin access, no facilities, etc, just the amazing forest and its views to enjoy!
Once we were set up and had said hello to the very lovely couple we would share the campervan area with that day and evening (and their beautiful and very well behaved dog!), we had some lunch and decided to get the bikes out. We set off into the forest for an hour or so, following part of the blue Juniper bike trail they have at the woods. The whole trail is 7.5 miles, so we skipped that as it was so hot! But even just doing half of the loop was great fun. It took us past an Iron Age fort called Boddington Camp (or Boddington Hillfort), and judging by the screams of delight from the many young children playing around the area, it’s a good place for kids entertainment and running free. There were lots of people out running, biking, hiking and on family outings, which was lovely to see.
We snacked on oranges and the made our way back to the motorhome. There are tons of things to do here – exercising, walking, Go Ape treetop activities, the Gruffalo and Room on the Broom Trails (my 2 are too old for this now, but it was nostalgic seeing the wooden figures in the forest and remembering the exact words to each story… we read them a lot!). There is also a marble run activity they are running this year for youngsters, lots of kids seemed to be absolutely loving it. But the queue to get the marbles was massive, so we decided against it ourselves. There is also a cafe and two ice cream pop ups.
The toilets are also good here… I think they generally get locked up once the car park is shut at 7pm but someone else camping here mentioned that the toilets would be open for the campers. So that was a bonus for the VW campervans!
Back at our motorhome, we had the whole afternoon stretching ahead of us, so we did some home education and art. Both of the kids did some maths, reading, poetry writing, short story writing and times table practice (they’ve both been amazing at just getting on with their studies…. We think it’s because they know they’re out of school now and know they have to do it themselves to travel!).
Afterwards, our daughter did some art – watercolour painting – and our son disappeared into the woods to hunt for things, find sticks, explore and climb. It was pretty idyllic. The car park started to empty out around 4pm and was near empty by 6pm. It was so peaceful and quiet here, with only us and 2 other motorhomes, and the kids rode their bikes outside for a while before we had dinner.
As part of the scheme, we weren’t allowed to set up awnings and tables etc outside of our motorhomes, so we ate inside but went back out again to explore the trees after. We really hope the scheme is a success because it was such a wonderful location and brilliant experience. We were also very lucky that our fellow motorhomers were so friendly, helpful and lovely to talk to. You meet the best people motorhoming! And it’s amazing to hear their stories and plans too (and have dog cuddles, as we left Bramble with family for this trip due to the heat and him struggling a bit with it).
For the evenings entertainment, the rest of the family (amateur Bigfoot hunters) went out to see if they could spot one, with their night vision goggles and torches. Sadly, no luck! Then we settled down for a few hours of tv and wind down time before heading to bed. We’re in the drop down electric double bed and the kids are in their own bunk beds…. And we are quite jealous of them!
Tomorrow, the kids will be doing Go Ape….!
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