Now you can travel virtually anywhere
Travel is off limits again but the world can come to you with the new Virtualtrips platform.
The live-stream site offers more than 80 free real-time tours by expert local guides in 15 locations – from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv via Venice, with interactive chat among the fellow ‘travellers’.
A spokesman said: ‘’It allows people to escape their day-to-day and share an experience with friends and family wherever they are in the world.’’
virtualtrips.io
ferry ride just had to book sessions via the app up to 48 hours in advance.
You could also use the app to order food and drink at Tides Bar & Grill and, if you were feeling lazy, you could even get it delivered to your lodge.
The site’s well-stocked supermarket has everything you need to cook though, and it was good to see the evening entertainment gradually being reintroduced. Unusually for a holiday park, you can enjoy all the fun with your four-legged friend, provided you stay in the Milford Room.
Guests wanting to stretch their legs can follow the nature trail around the site, or
SNOUT ABOUT signed pathways to both the beach (half a mile) and Milford on Sea
(two miles).
But it’s well worth setting aside a few hours to visit Hurst Castle, which is just a short drive from Shorefield. This ancient fort overlooking the Solent and the Isle of Wight was originally built by Henry VIII and is now managed by Hurst Marine on behalf of English Heritage.
There are lots of displays and exhibitions to explore, as well as one of the last remaining Second World War theatres – and you can even take the dog.
You can reach the castle by taking the 40-minute walk along stony Hurst Spit or by hopping on a ferry from nearby Keyhaven, which takes 10 minutes.
Entry to the castle is £5.50 per adult, while return ferry rides cost £7. Pets go free ( hurstcastle.co.uk).
There’s a lovely little café at the castle but you certainly won’t starve in the New Forest as fresh produce abounds. All of the local pubs and cafes make the most of it and even the famous free-roaming ponies feast from nature’s larder.
Every year, at the end of September, hundreds of pigs are released to protect the ponies by hoovering up the poisonous green acorns on the forest floor – a tradition that dates back to William the Conqueror. Our trip coincided with the annual “pannage” and we were thrilled to spot said piggies snuffling around in the earth on a wet Wednesday.
Before the autumnal weather arrived, however, we managed to squeeze in a barbecue and avoid
BEACH BEAUTY
Milford on Sea being hit by acorns falling from the trees surrounding the lodge.
Honestly, those pannage pigs would have had a field day!
It may well be a seasonal hazard but even that, combined with the rain, did little to dampen our spirits.
Would we stay here again? No question – we Shore would.
We were thrilled to spot piggies snuffling around in the earth
TRENCHES Opening phase of the Battle of the Somme
HONOURED Thiepval’s Somme memorial
Tour the sites of Normandy and the D-Day beaches. You’ll visit Sainte-MereEglise, an important town on the road to Cherbourg and perhaps most famous for John Steele, who played dead for two hours on the night of June 5, 1944, after his parachute became snagged on the church steeple.
At Friere, you’ll see an example of the bridges across the Merderet River, the Crisbecq Battery once manned by 300 men, and Omaha Beach which saw the heaviest fighting on D-Day.
You can also explore the moving neighbouring American military cemetery overlooking the beach.
There’s a visit to Bayeux, famous for its tapestry and its lovely old buildings.
Bayeux Tapestry