Bergman Travel Diary

Today we headed out in search of a new location. The Hampshire Council has recently introduced a new scheme for people like us who like to get out and about in the area. It is called the 'Culture all passport' and cost us only £69 for a full one year membership. The passport allows a family of four unlimited entry into a number of attractions in the area, including farms, country parks, historical sights, as well as free parking at all of the approved sites. Great value! After a little research we discovered we could purchase our passport at any of the participating attractions... so off we went. The destination for today was ' Staunton Country Park' in nearby Havant . We have been living in Waterlooville for almost 18 months now and didn't realise that this lovely country park was practically right on our doorstep. Once there we arranged for our passports and set off to take Storm for a walk around the park. Staunton Country Park is set on 1000 acres an...

Today we went for a walk of a different kind. Our goal was to find the English Bluebells that have, so far, evaded us this season. We were not to be dissapointed this time! For those who do not know, the Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta),otherwise known as the English Bluebell is a perennial herb with small, tubular, lavender-blue flowers, which covers the ground in April-May in England. We started with a nice leisurely walk at our much loved Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP). We were not to find any bluebells here, but we did enjoy a nice walk on one of their many paths surrounding the forest. Next we headed off to Chithurst , a small countryside area between Petersfield and Midhurst in West Sussex, not far north of QECP . Our location here was everything we had been searching for... and, oh so much more. We parked the car just outside the nearby Budhist Monastry, and went for a walk to the creek we were shown when we came here last. We were told that the fields around h...

Today we headed off for an adventure of a new kind.... to check out the wild animals at Longleat Safari Park . After a 2 hour drive from home we arrived at this massive park, first opened to the public in 1966. As we stopped the car to take a photo of Longleat from a distance, we could hear the howling of the wolves in the distance. Spine tingling start! Once inside the main park we took a walk around to see just what was on offer. For £17 per child and £24 per adult you get a Longleat Passport . This allows you a single entry into each of the parks'many attractions throughout the season. This meant that we could take our time today, knowing that anything we missed could be visited for no extra cost at any time until the end of summer. Fantastic idea! With this knowledge we were able to take our time and enjoy ourselves. The park has it's own caravan park for Caravan Club members (of which we are) so we will be coming back again for an entire weekend to finish what we didn'...