The Old Airfield
The Old Airfield
4.5 /5
The Old Airfield is a family-fun campsite set on an old RAF base in the south eastern corner of the New Forest, located near Burley and four miles from the sandy beaches at Mudeford and Highcliffe. There are spacious grass pitches for campers with tents, caravans and motorhomes, as well as 20 glamping bell tents. Observe the famous New Forest ponies right from your pitch and go for picturesque countryside walks.
An idyllic family-friendly site in the the New Forest, look out for the famous ponies
A spacious site with beautiful local wildlife and observe rare foliage and fauna
Great facilities with food vans for breakfast, pizza and more!
About The Old Airfield
This peaceful site set in the heart of the New Forest is the perfect pocket of countryside for you and your family. Situated a few miles from the ancient village of Burley on a 1940s RAF airstrip, you'll feel nostalgic as you unwind amongst nature. There are spacious grass pitches for tents, caravans and motorhomes, none of which have electric hookup. Additionally, there are 20 glamping bell tents for those wanting a little added luxury. Composting toilets, hand-washing basins and a new shower block with hot showers (and good pressure!). There are designated washing up areas and drinking water points and firepits are available to hire, with seasoned logs for sale. On weekends, a breakfast truck visits the campsite and there is barista-style coffee, too, along with a pizza oven and other food trucks. You'll be surrounded by flora and fauna that fall into the Special Area of Nature Conservation, making this a great place for nature watching. Venture out for walks and explore the countryside as you wind your way through the New Forest. Remember to look out for the famous ponies! Dogs are welcome and with this being in the idyllic New Forest, it's a great escape for your four-legged pals.
The site is open for May half term, weekends in June and July and between 19th July and 26th August.
There are eco-facilities including toilets and showers as well as a washing up point.
At the weekends on site, expect a breakfast and barista truck, along with a range of other food trucks.
Bransgore and Burley are the closest two villages to the site, each have a number of eateries and shops.
Adult only
Allow commercial vans
Allow pets
Bike hire
Café / restaurant
Communal BBQ
Disabled facilities
Drinking water
Electric hookups
Entertainment
Family friendly
Fires allowed
Fishing
Games room
Glamping
Golf
Horse riding
Hot tub
Internet access
Kids club
Kids playground
Laundry
Near beach
Near pub
Open year round
Peaceful
RV pitches
Shop
Showers
Swimming pool
Toilets
TV room
Vineyard
Water hookups
Watersports
W.C. disposal
There are 247 accommodation options on-site
Bookable pitches and accommodation options
30 x Small Non Electric Grass Pitches
Max 2 people
Unallocated grass pitches with no electric. Turn up and choose where's best for you. Suitable for tents only.
202 x Non Electric Grass Pitches
Max 6 people
Spacious unallocated grass pitches with no electric. Turn up and choose where's best for you. Suitable for tents and campervans.
4.5 /5
93%
Recommend
Lovely site
Recommends site
Elizabeth B
0
0
Lovely site, very relaxed feel. Liked the social area, but site not noisy at night - also a bonus. Toilets/showers kept very clean, although the site would have benefited from more showers and also somewhere to re-freeze ice packs.
Great site and facilities
Recommends site
Matt T
0
0
Lovely site with good facilities. Plenty of toilets which were clean and stocked with toilet roll most of the weekend. Showers had queues at times, but that's to be expected on bank holiday weekend and there was nothing more the site could have done to avoid this. Got pizza from the food truck on the first night, disappointingly, it took 2.5 hours for our 2 pizzas to be ready, despite being told it would be under a hour. Pizza was, however, great when we got it, and we enjoyed a few drinks from the horsebox bar whilst waiting for the pizza to be ready. We pitched in the adults only area, which was great on our first night and mostly peaceful, except for a couple of loud groups but we didn't mind that as it sounded like they were having great fun! On the second day we arrived back at the site and noticed a family with a young child was pitching right next to our tent (in the space my car had been parked) despite us being in the 'adults only area'. We immediately spoke to reception about this before their tents were fully up and reception staff said they would deal with it, but they did nothing. I texted the manager that evening highlighting the situation and how the child had been screaming for a large portion of the evening. That night we were disturbed whilst trying to get to sleep, woken up in the middle of the night by screaming, then fully awake at 6am with the child running around screaming and the parents being loud trying to deal with him. I'm all for kids going camping and getting these experiences, but the site really need to enforce the adults only area, considering we only chose this campsite and paid extra to come here given the advertised adults only area. Even some signs showing where is adults only could have potentially avoided this issue. And the staff at reception should have taken action when we first highlighted this issue. The following day, the solution of the manager was to offer to help us move our tent away from this family. Not sure this should be the way, given they pitched in the adults only area. We opted to stay put to avoid all the upheaval of moving our tent just for one night. The manager was apologetic and kindly offered us to return, but it's a shame the situation wasn't dealt with when we first highlighted it. What had the potential to have been a relaxing and peaceful weekend on a lovely site was ruined by customers not following the rules, and staff not doing enough about it, especially after paying a lot of money compared to other campsites for the advertised adults only area. A couple of minor tweaks, such as signs highlighting that the area is adults only, and staff walking round the site whilst people are pitching would prevent this from happening in the future, I would hope.
Lovely, quiet simple site
Recommends site
David E
0
0
Great site with direct forest access and loads of space.
Site tariff
Things to do on site and in the Burley area
Explore the beautiful New Forest, perfect for anyone looking to get out and about in nature and it is recommended to use a bike. There are endless walking trails right from your tent, some of the New Forest's most popular cycle tracks, and plenty of places for den building and tree climbing in the site's own little copse.
Further afield is the south coast seaside, where you can explore the dramatic cliffscape of Lymington or Mudeford.
Nearby Bolderwood is one of the most beautiful forests in the area where you can watch the fallow deer being fed, there are also many walks in the woods for all abilities and a large picnic area amongst the tall trees, alongside which is a New Forest information centre.
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