Glamping At Gambledown Farm Review - Getting Back To Nature

Disclaimer: We received our stay in exchange for this post, as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. Read on for my review: Glamping at Gambledown Farm

There is something special about Glamping, especially with kids. While we do love camping, it takes far more planning and preparation than I sometimes have. Glamping is a perfect mix between the great outdoors camping offers and some of the comforts of home all while being outdoors.

Gambledown Farm is a traditional Hampshire mixed farm with a resident herd of over 30 Shorthorn cattle, arable crops and ancient woodland, situated between Winchester, Salisbury and Southampton and on the edge of the spectacular New Forest.

It has 5 African style Safari tents available for your Glamping experience – these are very well spaced out in a private field away from each other to help provide a home from home quiet environment for your stay. Each tent has its own outdoor seating area with a picnic bench and chairs, a BBQ and a Fire Pit with tree stump stool for you to use.

Using wheelbarrows for luggage - Glamping at Gambledown Farm — Emmy wheeling luggage to our tent

The tents sleep up to 6 people in 3 separate sleeping areas – there is a master bedroom with a double bed, wardrobe and clothes hanging facilities, another bedroom with bunk beds in and a cubby bed which is a double bed which is accessed via a ladder and enclosed within wooden partition walls – there is a door which you can leave open or closed to this sleeping area – My daughter liked it closed. Under this sleeping area is a storage area for your bags, coats, shoes and cases to help keep your tent tidy.

Double bed - Glamping at Gambledown Farm — Main bedroom

Bunk beds - Glamping at Gambledown Farm — Bunk Beds

Cubby bed and storage area - Glamping at Gambledown Farm — Cubby Bed and under storage area

A fully fitted bathroom is also inside your tent – another luxury of glamping over camping! With a shower, toilet and sink – with the privacy of a sliding wooden door. The main area of the tent is your kitchen, front room and dining area all in one – with a gas hob for cooking your meals if you aren’t using the BBQ, and of course for making your hot drinks on. There is also a sink for washing up and a wood-burning stove to help heat your tent in the evenings.

Each tent has a huge wooden dining room table with more than enough space to seat 6 people and a sofa for relaxing in the evenings. There is no electricity in the tents with the fridge being a large cool box which you keep cold with frozen bottles of water which are obtained from the honesty shop on arrival.

There is everything you need for a very comfortable family stay but you do have to remember you are in a tent with no electricity or heat other than the wood burner so preparation is key. You will find hot water bottles in the tent which you can fill with hot water and take to bed with you in the evenings – unless it is the height of summer I do highly recommend doing this as once the sun goes down you will certainly know about it when you climb into bed.

The tents are all fully equipped with pots, pans, plates, bowls, cups etc which you will need to cook your food and be able to wash up after. You bring all your own food and drinks – but you can find the bare essentials and basics in the honesty shop where you write down on a sheet what you take and pay on your departure. You can also order a breakfast hamper for your arrival and meat packages. There is also a staff manned pizza oven which you can pre-order pizzas to be cooked for you.

Every need has been catered to on this working farm – the tents are lit by rechargeable lanterns which you also collect from the honesty shop and then take back the following morning to recharge. Wheelbarrows are provided to help you take your luggage to your tent as no cars are allowed in the field.

This is a working farm and has chickens in the field where you Glamp – the kids adored this and would disappear for hours to enter the coop and pet the chickens – you can buy their fresh eggs from the shop. There are also orphaned lambs on site which we were able to bottle feed in the evenings. Also cows, sheep, pigs and horses. The animals are moved around the fields daily so they are constantly grazing on fresh grass. The farm’s meat is supplied freshly from these animals which you can pre-order or buy from the freezer to take home with you.

As well as the glamping tents there are also holiday lets available to stay in should you prefer solid walls for your holiday – there are 3 of these – a small (sleeps 2 people), medium (sleeps 6 people) and large (sleeps 8 people) which can be hired separately or you could hire them all together for a large extended family holiday.

And if that weren’t enough – there is also a huge function hall available to hire for special occasions, retreats or corporate functions. It is also used regularly as a Yoga retreat – and I can certainly see why – it is so peaceful and tranquil here it is very easy indeed to relax and unwind.

For the kids, there is a playground area located in the glamping field and lots of ride-on cars and toys in the barn, alongside a basketball hoop and table tennis table.

Take a kite, football and some outdoor toys and there is no real need to leave the site. You can spark up the BBQ for your dinner, light the fire pit and toast marshmallows and make smores. Enjoy a lovely hot chocolate or glass of wine and watch the sun go down before closing up the tent for the evening, lighting the wood-burning stove and enjoying some screen-free family fun. We took cards, board games and colouring to entertain the children in the evenings and there was not one mention of them missing the TV or their phones.

They loved the freedom of the farm, making new friends with the other children staying and petting all the animals. Should you which to eat out, there are plenty of places nearby but you will need a car to get to them. Lots of shops and attractions are also nearby. You will find a very comprehensive guidebook/welcome booklet in your tent.

The farm is run by Richard and Tamara who will meet you on arrival, and show you around the farm, the honesty shop and your accommodation. They are also usually around the farm somewhere should you need anything or can be contacted on the phone. For Glamping there are set check-in times of between 4-6 pm and check-out is before 10 am.

We had the best time staying here and would certainly love to return again soon. Watch a reel of our stay:

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A post shared by Clare Nicholas – UK Blogger (@clarenicholasuk_)

While you will find most things you need available in your accommodation or on the farm, here is a list of things I recommend you take with you to make your stay as comfortable as possible: