This site is quite hard to find as satnav only gets you so far so you will need to use a good, old-fashioned map and keep your eyes peeled for the entrance.
The site is located about half a mile or so down a rough, unmade road until you reach the Reception/shop. Check in was speedy and efficient and very friendly. Cabins are well set apart and first impressions were good.
We had a Silver Birch, three bedroom cabin which had lots of room, comfy beds and plenty of seating in the lounge area. Unless you’re willing to pay more there’s no internal cleaning of the cabin during your stay. The cabins are provided with brooms, etc and we used those often as we brought in lots of hairy beech tree seed cases on our shoes. (The ground under the trees had a carpet of these.)
The kitchen was the biggest disappointment as it wasn’t very clean and the under-the-counter fridge with freezer box was far too small to take all our food with no room for drinks. As this is a self-catering holiday centre the designers really slipped up here.
The two bathrooms – including one ensuite – were a good size and provided plenty of hot water at all times. One had a walk in shower and the other had a shower over a bath but they were both quite slippery so exercise caution or bring a shower mat.
The hot tub on the patio was the highlight for our party and that was maintained daily. Information about the site and its cabins was available on a smart TV in the lounge. There was a very informative short video about the use of hot tubs where we learned that we should only use the tub for a max of 20 mins per session!
One of our group has mobility problems and was only just able to climb into the hot tub, though the hot water really eased his aches and pains at the end of the day and he loved it. However, for those with more severe disabilities, Forest Holidays do have wheelchair adapted cabins close to their Reception areas. They provide more information about their disabled facilities on their website: https://www.forestholidays.co.uk/
Because the forest around the cabins is so dense be prepared not to see more than a tiny patch of sky and, most surprisingly, there was no birdsong! They have bird feeders in the Reception car park but we only saw and heard birds in that area during our stay – though we did spot a small deer near our cabin on one occasion.
We met several dog owners during our walks around the site and they were very enthusiastic about being able to bring their four-legged friends, children and grandchildren – in that order!
There is wifi on site but no mobile phone signal so we could text but not make calls. Likewise, the satnav didn’t work onsite so when we were going out for the day we had to wait until we’d reached the public highway before programming our next destination. Not a problem once we realised what was happening but something it would have been useful to know.
All in all it was an enjoyable stay but because our party found it rather too dark, if we were to try a Forest Holiday again I think we’d look more closely at the photos on the website and pick one that has some clearer areas where the cabins aren’t so densely surrounded by trees.
