We visited Sandy balls in the New Forest during Easter this year. It is almost exactly 12 months since our last visit here. Spending Easter away from the house is certainly a great way to unwind and with all the facilities that Sandy balls has to offer makes this a perfect spring time destination.
Our trip down took longer this time, due in part to the volume of traffic and frequent breaks along the way. The trip took us 6 hours ! with mileage of only 66 miles door to door, you can see how slow it was.
On arrival we were quickly shown to our pitch (In Four acres) we unpacked and set ourselves up. The weather was perfect while we erected the awning but it was going to be the last of the pleasant weather we would see for a few days.
We started our first full day with a full English breakfast, all cooked up on the Cadac. we decided to take advantage of the on site facilities. The children decided to go swimming, Angela & I decided to go for a coffee, light lunch and some much needed café culture. The weather by this time had turned for the worse. We didn’t know it yet, but Storm Katy was well on track for us.
I decided before we visited the site that I wanted to complete a new video while we were away. I wanted to film, edit and upload the clip all while we were on site. This was in part due to massive work pressures, that mean I don’t have much time at home to complete some of the topics I wanted to, but also for some trips we have planned next year I wanted to see how easy this would actually be. So this was a perfect place to attempt creating a video.
After I had filmed, edited and uploaded the video it was time to visit on of the on site restaurants. Sandy Balls offers a restaurant, an Inn and a take away service for all guests on site. We decided to eat at the Forest Table. We enjoyed a good 2 course meal and returned back to the ‘van to watch a film and settle in for the evening.
Storm Katy Made herself known this evening. If you have ever been inside a caravan during a light rain storm you can appreciate the noise. Heavy rain is 10 times louder and with huge gusts of wind, a rocking caravan and an awning that was hell bent on lifting off, the caravan was a very noisy place to be. Our soundtrack for the next seven hours consisted of wind battering the ‘van, the rain hammering down and the distant sound of “tap tap tap” as fellow campers had to re-peg the awnings and tents. Our visual treat was watching a tree swing back and forth through the skylight. Needless to say we, along with many others didn’t get a wink of sleep.
At 3am we had to re-peg the awning. The constant wind, gusts and rain meant that the hard standing we were situated on just wouldn’t hold any of our pegs. Using rock pegs was the only option and double pegging every eyelet both inside and out seemed to work well. By the morning our awning was exactly where it should have been.
Others were not so fortunate, an awning was left in the bin, others decided to pack up during the night and some even left the site all together. The day after however, no one would have ever known what a torrid night it had been.
We decided to go for a nice walk through the forest and take in some much needed vistas and sunshine.
We walked past the site, out towards the village of Godshill and past the “Fighting Cocks Pub”. We found some of the famous New Forest ponies, and walked on into the heart of the forest, where the dog could run, unwind and have some much needed fun with us all.
We enjoyed a couple more days of sun, rain showers and fun times. Sandy Balls is perfect if you have families. If it’s a quiet & relaxing place to stay – this possibly isn’t the place for you. Sandy Balls is a busy place during the school holidays. That said with the entertainment laid on by the site, the children are well catered for and this can lead to any parent being able to unwind.
Tom is of that age where he doesn’t really take much interest in the onsite attractions, and to be fair he is a bit old for them now. So if you have a moody teenager it may be best to source some activities off site.
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