We were a mixed family group, with an age range of between 3 -90 years! It was the perfect house in a perfect situation. The beautiful village of Brockenhurst was within an easy 15 minute walk, and although the road to it was very busy, the house was in a much quitter road. Our first impression was one of unusual speciousness in a holiday let - the open plan kitchen diner was huge and the children loved the 'run a complete circle' through the utility room and kitchen area.
Much of my father's time (he's almost 90) was spent in the very large conservatory with it's unique garden/field with ponies aspect. It was warm and very inviting. The children loved all the available toys, both inside and out, and appreciated the garden play area. Although they had their own TV room, they spent most of their at home time in the garden and conservatory. We are musicians and found the 'spare' downstairs room, between the kitchen and sitting rooms, the perfect place for our keyboard, music stand and and teaching materials, making a complete music practice/teaching room. All the children willingly did their daily practice on the way through to breakfast each day! We really could find no fault with forest Glenn, spending much time on the close by cycle tracks. 2 of the children learnt to ride their bikes without stabilisers during their stay, which just added to the perfect holiday. Thanks to the owners for providing an excellent home environment.
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We stayed here as an extended family including two children, added 4 and 20 months. The house is absolutely lovely and the garden is fantastic for children and adults alike.
The generous downstairs meant plenty of space for the children to play and the conservatory was our favourite haunt, especially in the rain! Upstairs is so nice; lovely, huge master bedroom and 3 decent sized bedrooms that were decorated in a really pretty style. Lots of books for children in one of the rooms. On the whole the house is very well equipped for children, 2 "trip trap" high chairs, plenty of plastic plates and cutlery, a toddler bed and a travel cot and so many toys including a wooden train track that my eldest loved.
The lounge is small, but it's lovely and cosy and we found we sat in the conservatory almost all of the time anyway. It was nice and warm in there.
We did find the road quite busy, which surprised us. But it was lovely to see a herd of cows pass by the house! It's great that you can walk straight into the forest from there.
Claire, the owner, was really helpful and we are thankful to her for our wonderful weekend. We would definitely stay again. In fact, we did say that we would love to live in a house like that!
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We stayed at Fern Glen with our 4 year old twins and our 6 year old for three wonderful weeks in August. The house is well maintained with all mod cons and because the owners have young children themselves it is well set up for little ones. There are books, toys and a lovely long garden that looks out onto a field with horses. The pretty sun room looks out onto the garden and is where we spent most of our late afternoons. You can get wi-fi from the reception room but we struggled to get in anywhere else.
The Balmer Lawn Hotel, which hosts regular summer cricket matches , is a stones throw away and the house is just about walking distance from the well known Pig Hotel and restaurant ( although my 4 year olds complained towards the end!)
The Pig is a slightly stuffier crowd but If you pick a nice day and sit outside it is workable with children as they can play in the garden area just below the patio. My children spent countless hours in the forest across from the Balmer Lawn Hotel throwing stones in the stream and building forts with branches and ferns while wild horses and deer sauntered by!
We rented bikes from a company by the rail station and cycled through the forest to The Oak pub in Bank. (highly recommended) We visited Lymington, Christchurch, Bournemouth by train, and several other seaside towns where the kids enjoyed crabbing over the side of the jetty. We survived a day at the very busy Peppa Pig World and thoroughly enjoyed another day at Moors Valley Park which is great for kids and adults alike. Would also highly recommend.
I can't really find fault with Fern Glen. The front door is hard to open and the living room is small but it was fine for just watching television. When we wanted to be social we used the lovely sun room instead. I don't think you can go wrong with this place.
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We stayed here for 4 nights in October half term. We are a family of four but the house could easily accommodate extended family.
Lovely, spacious house that felt like a real home from home. Welcome hamper that included 2 soft toys for the children and nice to have all linen and towels provided.
Conservatory is worthy of a mention as this was really stunning and a great area to sit and enjoy the garden and fields beyond. Our children loved the garden which was safe and had some play equipment for them to enjoy.
Cosy snug lounge with open fire and lots of books and games for the children. Perhaps a couple of grown up books/dvds would be nice but this is a minor point!
Brockenhurst village was a 10 minute walk away. We couldn't get a table at 'The Pig' which was a shame as highly recommended - book ahead! We ate at the Hare and Hounds at Sway which was very nice and the Rose and Crown in Brockenhurst which was a reasonable family pub.
Exbury gardens a good family outing with a ghost steam train for Halloween which the children enjoyed.
The owner was great to deal with (even when we got locked out!). We would highly recommend this property.
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We spent 1 week in Forest Glen early September and can highly recommend to anyone else wanting a perfect base for a New Forest holiday. The house is amazing and it was a real shame we had to leave!
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We stayed at Forest Glen over a long weekend in May. We were a group of two families with two young children. Our reason for staying in the area was to visit Paulton's Park / Peppa Pig World, which is a 15 min drive away, so perfectly located. Beaulieu was only 5 miles away, but we ran out of time to visit.
Our first impressions of the house were wonderful, a large well-maintained cottage with gated driveway & cattle grid in a quiet road. A welcome hamper with two little soft toys had been left for us, which we thought was a very special touch.
The house felt very roomy so we could all spread out comfortably - downstairs there was a small lounge, TV/games room, large entrance hall/sitting room, utility room, and a very large kitchen/dining area leading to a spectacular conservatory where we spent most of our time enjoying views of the garden and horses in the field behind.
Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms, a master en-suite, one double, one twin and a single (with cot bed). All are tastefully decorated and bright, with good quality bedding and fluffy towels provided. Beautiful modern family bathroom and en-suite.
Our only minor criticism about the property was the small-ish lounge for the size of the house and not enough chairs for everybody at the same time, but everything else more than makes up for this. Overall, a real home-from-home and ideal for children. A travel cot and highchairs were provided. The kitchen was also better equipped than my home!
Brockenhurst village was a 15 minute walk away, the first half of which is along a busy road, although there is a pavement. The second half of the walk is quieter but no pavement. We didn't feel comfortable walking into town with the small children because of the roads.
During our stay, we also visited Moors Valley Country Park which I would recommend for families, lots to do, miniature railway, adventure playground, Go Ape and forest trails. That was about 20 miles away.
Claire Redway, the owner, was a pleasure to deal with throughout. All admin was clear and timely and we retrieved the keys with no issues. I highly recommend this property for a relaxing stay in the New Forest.
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