Tr avel report BOURNEMOUTH

was enough to keep our tot pretty busy during the week.

Weirdly, given George’s predilection for sea water, he absolutely refused to go into the holiday park’s child-friendly swimming pool.

We tried to bribe him in with squishy toys that were in the area, but he was resolutely having none of it. However, lots of other children were enjoying both the little pool as well as a big indoor swimming pool and outdoor pool in the sunshine.

Just a word for those with very little ones - the nearest beach to the holiday park is not particularly accessible for pushchairs. It’s a stony path down a hillside and we ended up abandoning the pram to walk down with George instead.

Knowing just how demanding little George can be, we recruited his grandma to join us for our holiday so that she could enjoy all of the Naish Park fun too. Oh and, erm, perhaps do a little bit of babysitting while we went out for a quiet meal in peace. For this, we drove just along the coast to Mudeford to the excellent Noisy Lobster restaurant.

Ideally situated right next to the beach, this seafood restaurant was packed out during one of our visits to the seaside during the daytime in the week, so we decided to return at night for a romantic meal as the sun set over the ocean.

There was also a good range of dining facilities on the holiday park itself which would mean you would never have to drive out if you didn’t want to.

Also good for those with kids, during the tots’ break the under-5s get to eat for free, and George enjoyed a cheesy pasta bake in the main Brasserie 1912 restaurant (named after the date the Hoburne park empire was first founded), while I tucked in to a delicious beef and Moroccan cous cous dish and the other half had a tender pork belly dish.

The holiday park recently underwent a major revamp and the two main restaurants, the more casual Cafe H as well as the Brasserie are excellent with clean and modern interiors and offering a range of family-friendly food and drinks.

We stayed in one of the top-ofthe-range three bedroom Chewton lodges at Naish Park to give us plenty of room to spread out during our week-long visit.

The lodge was really excellent - a large living room area, newly fitted out kitchen and an outdoor decked area to enjoy the sunshine. We couldn’t have been luckier during our stay with the weather, with wallto-wall sunshine throughout the week ensuring it was the most idyllic of holiday breaks.

The holiday park is 10 miles from Bournemouth (around a 20 minute drive) and we spent a day out in the town, including another stop off at the beach for George, and yet another tantrum as we tried to get him to leave the sea.

We enjoyed a lovely walk through the park, and I got to enjoy a quick dash around the wealth of high street shops in the town.

Hoburne Naish is also virtually on the doorstep of the New Forest, and we enjoyed a day out driving around its picturesque villages and marvelling at the wild horses and cattle left to roam freely across the land.

We had a stop off at Buckler’s Hard, an historic maritime village, where George was able to hare down the preserved village street down to the docks - although in true George style, he didn’t want to stop running and we had to forcefully prevent him from jumping into the river at the bottom.

For those with young children, if you’re making the four hour drive plus down to Bournemouth from Manchester, it’s well worth making a stop off at Peppa Pig World at Paulton’s Park near Southampton.

We planned to go here on our way home, and wished we’d left more time to fully explore this vast theme park. We got to enjoy a lot of the actual Peppa Pig side of the park, which has a host of fun rides for little ones with all their favourite cartoon characters.

It also meant for a happy, and nice and tired George ready to fall asleep for at least part of the lengthy drive home.