The New Forest

This week I had a lovely couple of days away with the boyfriend as a mini holiday.  With both of us having limited funds for a holiday this year we decided to see what was on offer on deal websites and book us a bargain!

I found a great deal with Red Letter Days for a two night stay at Bartley Lodge in the New Forest, we booked it and off we went!

Bartley Lodge Hotel

The New Forest is such a beautiful place and the hotel sits just on the edge of it.  It's quite near to the motorway but  you still felt like you were in the middle of nowhere, bliss!

The hotel was lovely and looked like an old house, the rooms were a little old fashioned (and for some strange reason our double bed had two single mattresses of different heights on it instead of one double one) but it was really comfortable and a lovely place to stay.

Casually up a tree

We went for walks through the forest, had gorgeous breakfasts and dinners and explored the little villages around the area.  It really is such a lovely part of the country to visit, I've loved it ever since we went camping as a family when I was small and was amazed by all the horses just roaming free.

On the journey home we also stopped off in Southampton for some lunch and bit of a look around.  It seemed a really nice place and had some good shopping too!  I especially loved the Go Rhinos exhibition, 40 individually designed and decorated rhinos scattered across the city, I made it my mission to see as many as possible but my favorite had to be the mirrored one.  It just looked so unique and you really got a sense of the rhino's skin through such an unexpected medium.

Mirrored Rhino, Dental Rhino & Flower Power Rhino - some of my faves

I wish we could have stayed longer, partly for the pool and sauna, but also for the peace and relaxed atmosphere.  Living in London it's nice to be able to take a few days away from all the noise and people and breathe some clean air.

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