Last Updated on 31 October 2023 by Colette
This post features a hosted stay
This October half term we made the four hour plus drive down to the rural South Downs in Hampshire to stay in the steam railway-themed Watercress Lodges. As well as six self-catering lodges, The Watercress Lodges and Campsite is home to two safari tents with plush furnishings, king-size bed, wood burning stove, sofa bed and veranda with BBQ, and a great value campground with brand-new shower and toilet block – which we would absolutely be testing out were it not October . . . late season campers we are not.
We stayed in a cottage called Alton – this is a cottage which sleeps six (though with two on a sofa bed in the living room) and allows dogs making it a fairly safe bet for our family of five.
The cottage is accessed via a key safe meaning you’re free to let yourself in after 3pm and check out is easy on the morning of departure.
Parking for Alton lodge is nearby on the main road through the site rather than directly outside the lodge. The lodge itself is accessed down a short path – though with the heavy rain the top of the path was impassable on the second morning and we had to find an alternative route back up to car!
Our cottage was warm and cosy when we arrived which felt really welcoming – especially at the end of October and we appreciated the welcome basket of goodies.
The two bedrooms upstairs are really spacious – with a twin room for the girls and a double room for Dave and I – the website listing says the bed is king size but I’d argue it is most definitely a standard double. The bed in the double room is quite soft and bouncy – you know the sort of mattress where the whole bed moves when you turn over in the night? I didn’t sleep well at all on the first night but that’s fairly common when I’m sleeping somewhere new (and the pint of Diet Coke I’d drunk with my tea won’t have helped matters!).
Thanks to the rural location, the bedrooms are lovely and dark at night. On our first morning we woke to a lovely misty autumnal morning which gave way to a glorious blue skied sunny day – perfect for exploring local attractions. On the second night it rained heavily but there was something very cosy about hearing the rain battering down on the skylight in our bedroom. Luckily the worst of the rain fell during the night and, though everywhere was very wet the following morning (and left some huge puddles on site), it didn’t impact our adventures!
We had brought groceries with us for breakfast each day but then chose to eat out for lunch and dinner so I can’t really comment on the kitchen facilities beyond there being plenty of cupboard space and a lovely clean fridge freezer. We did however notice that the microwave wasn’t working – this wasn’t a major issue bar Chloe and I not being able to heat up our beads. I mentioned it to Hannah who thanked me for letting her know and said she would ensure it was sorted. The other thing we noticed in the kitchen was that all the glasses in the cupboard were filthy – we think this was probably a dishwasher issue rather than them not having been washed up properly but we all ended up using mugs for drinks instead.
Free WiFi is provided at Watercress Lodges and I found this adequate for basic browsing and the kids used it to stream some video content but it was too slow for me to able to upload photos to my website when I tried to do a little work. This is of course not necessarily a bad thing as I generally don’t mind an enforced break from life online unless I have deadlines to meet!
Everywhere was clean and tidy though some of the furniture in the main living area was looking a little tired – Ben noticed a rip in the leather sofa which was hidden by a cushion and the dining table and chairs were quite chipped – of course none of this affects the usability of the furniture but did just make it all feel a little scruffier than the rest of the property.
We had a couple of niggles with the shower in the main bathroom which was temperamental to say the least. It didn’t seem to matter what you set the dial to or how long you left it to settle, it did as it pleased – your shower could be stone cold or constantly too hot – or at one point I had a tepid shower with occasional hot flashes! We found this got worse the more it was used so the person who had the first shower in the morning had the best chance of a reasonable temperature. We ended up telling the girls to just have a wash at the sink whilst Dave, Ben and I managed to make the best of it and have a quick rinse.
Watercress Lodges made a great base for our adventures (you can find out more about our half term break at Watercress Lodges here) as it was functional and well located.
For more information about the site and to book a stay visit https://watercresslodges.co.uk/
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