The Old Airfield Reviews

Lovely site

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

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

Great site with direct forest access and loads of space.

Excellent pop-up camp site in the New Forest

This camp site wouldn't suit people looking for loads of facilities - there's no campsite shop for example, the loos are portable or compost, and the showers (which are free with plenty of hot water) are only open at limited times. But as regular campers who don't want to be pampered, we loved it, and we saw a lot of families with kids having a really great time too. The site is dead level (not surprising, given it's a former airfield), easy to find, and enormous - apparently it can get busy on summer weekends, but we were there mid-week in August and it was very quiet. While we were there, you could get drinks during the day from a mobile barista, and pizzas and drinks (beer, wine, cocktails etc) in the evening, brought in by external providers, plus an ice cream van rolled around the site on a couple of occasions. It's low key, and none the worse for that. We were seeing family and friends around the area and found the site to be very central. The main road is not that far off and can get a bit noisy when the wind is in a particular direction, and a surprising number of planes flew into or out of the nearby Bournemouth airport, but it really wasn't a problem: most of the time it felt very peaceful. There are fabulous walks directly from the campsite and if you venture more than a few hundred yards from the site you find very beautiful woods and heaths, full of bird life, and practically devoid of people. We'd certainly come back and stay again next time we are in this neck of the woods.

Great experience

First experience of a Bell tent and it was great, really clean and comfortable beds. Fantastic walks straight from the site. Lovely espresso martini from the pop up bar, lovely friendly owners. We had a brilliant time.

Great location and good value for money

Lovely location with great dog walks. Lots of space for camping. Really nice to have the bar and food vans as we didn't bring much with us. It got much busier on Saturday and would benefit from more showers - 8 for that many people meant a long queue.

Lovely space

Really lovely wide open space. Great for families. We stayed with family who had booked the bell tent and you can all camp next to each other which was lovely. Facilities very clean and showers hot. Staff really friendly. Bar and food available. We didn't use but looked really nice. Only thing I would've liked to see was recycling facilities throughout the site and not just at the entrance as I suspect, like us, most recyclable rubbish just ended up in main rubbish.

Great campsite

The campsite felt very rural but a great area, close to beaches & forest, basic but very creative. They have a communal area with food & bar (with cocktails) plenty of room, eco friendly, lots of space with horses and cows to see. Beautiful sunsets. We would definitely come back & recommend.

Nice and simple camp site

Had two days here - one in torrential rain, one in sunshine. The site has very large and very open, which is both good and bad, but facilities are decent overall with the showers being very welcome (both hot and powerful). Staff are also very pleasant too. Only minor drawback is that the walk to a local pub/shop is quite a few miles away, but if you're well stocked, that's not a problem and there is also a bar on site in the evenings (although, we didn't get a chance to use it).

Fun weekend

We all had such a wonderful weekend, all the staff were very friendly and helpful, we will definitely be back. The pizza was nice but not sure worth the £15 price and had to order 2 and not very large. Minor matter really. Coffee and bar box were great.

First time junior campers

Perfect for my 2 young grandsons, plenty of space to play, ice cream van & Grandad appreciated the beer tent!

Summer camping

Clean, spacious and great facilities. Great location. Lovely staff and great amenities. Cool pizza spot!

Roaming in the New Forest

Low key campsite with everything you need. And a bar with pizza. 👍

Great place for a weekend camping!

We had a lovely weekend at The Old Airfield. A very welcoming and relaxed host, with everything we needed in close proximity and clean facilities. The communal area was a lovely touch and the pizza was great! Our dog had a lovely time and we will definitely be back. Thank you.

One night only

Back to basic camping with the luxury of a portaloo.. plenty of space, friendly staff, horsebox bar which was cute...just what we needed to escape life with a firepit and guitars 🥰🥰

Girlie's get away

It was just 1 night both my friend and I love it. Quiet and peaceful. Having the food trucks, little bar and communal area was just the best I will definitely be back. Thank you x

Chilled out but facilities basic!

Location is lovely, really spacious and great space for playing. Even though it's busy, there's plenty of space for everyone. One area for more groups, one for families and an adult field. Chilled out festival feel. However, lower stars as there is only 1 tap for drinking water and 1 small washing area, both by the porta-showers which took 4 minutes to walk to. For the cost, a few more taps, sinks and showers would be good.

Site's response

Hi Rhona Thank you for leaving a review and I so glad you felt the campsite was spacious and there was plenty of space for playing but sad that you marked us down on taps and washing facilities. I am sorry that you only found the 1 tap and 1 small washing area. We have taps situated around the airfield strip and also another washing area. We would really appreciate you reconsidering your review. Vivien.

Great setting

Beautiful setting, off-grid on a beautiful evening. Full of history, this airfield was where planes set off for the Battle of Britain. Huge amount of space (obviously very level!) between campers and a really good vibe and atmosphere. Had no time to plan for this trip, but no need as when we arrived a cocktail bar and pop-up pizza stall awaited - perfect! Lovely balance between off-grid and no cooking/washing up necessary :) Added bonus was being surrounded by the beautiful New Forest ponies.

Amazing!

It was so good, we had a great time. The coffee trailer on site was very useful and the food truck was good! The shower was the best, hot, clean and nice.

Fantastic

Highly recommend. Good clean facilities, helpful staff and loads of space. We camped in the woods, which was lovely and peaceful.

Clean and peaceful campsite

The campsite was a short drive away from shops and the beach and had a good atmosphere. The toilets and showers were always clean, and only a short walk away from wherever you camp as they were placed around the site. The people were lovely and made sure everyone was comfortable with their stay there.

Great campsite

Really happy with the campsite, would come again! The location is great, quiet and very close to a few beaches. We stayed there over the weekend, Friday - Sunday, and we had a barista and a breakfast truck in the mornings and a pizza or noodles van and a bar truck in the evenings. There were fire pits and logs available for renting. The showers, toilets, and washing area for dishes were all very clean throughout the day. Loads of horses nearby and of course, the New Forest. Very family friendly, so highly recommend!

Nice camping site

Clean portaloos and showers, nice staff and reasonably priced food and drinks.

Quiet location

Owen, the onsite manager, was brilliant. Went round to all guests asking when they wanted the shower block turned on. Made sure we were all happy. On one level, it was great as there were so few people staying and we got a fab pitch with great sunset views. On the other, no barista coffee van or breakfast van on weekdays.

Great place

Really frendly owners, great location, quiet place. We had a wonderful time.