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You probably don’t need an excuse for a break, let’s face it, we all love a holiday! But if you do need reasons, take a look at why we think you should book an autumn break here…

1. Saver season kicks in

Look out for saver season and low season starting in October. You can have one of our hardstanding superior pitches for just £31 per night, with non-electric camping from just £17!

2. See the New Forest National Park in all its glory

Autumn is arguably the best time of year to visit the New Forest. There are some fantastic autumn walks you can enjoy that are just a short distance from us. Take a look at the New Forest website for lots of walking inspiration.

3. Explore the coast without the crowds

We all know how busy the coast can get in July and August. Embark on some of the South West Coast Path or take a stroll along the beaches at Bournemouth and escape the masses.

4. Enjoy some mulled wine at Monty’s Bar

The mulled wine will be flowing in October at Monty’s, our outdoor bar area. If mulled wine’s not your tipple then take your choice from gin, beer or wine – many locally sourced.

5. Do a spot of Christmas shopping early

Head to the shopping centres of Bournemouth or to one of the local farmers’ markets to grab yourselves some early Christmas gifts.

6. Walk the Castleman Trailway

Pop into Reception and pick up a copy of our walking guide which tells you how you can access the Castleman Trailway from our site. This disused railway line offers peaceful walks either towards Moors Valley Country Park or Wimborne Minster.

We’d love to see you here this autumn. If you fancy staying with us, then check out our availability here.

Back of Beyond becomes company sponsor of New Forest and District Beekeepers’ Association 

We’ve become a company sponsor of the New Forest and District Beekeepers’ Association (NFDBKA). The Association recently launched a new outreach programme to work with businesses and organisations that are keen to help bees of all types.

With large woodland and heathland areas as well as bee hives on site, we’re well placed to support the NFDBKA and the local bee population by creating new wildflower meadows. 

Martin Bowrey, owner of the park said, “We’re pleased to see the new wildflower meadows now starting to bloom. They will not only benefit our honey bees, wild bees and other pollinators, but also provide new areas of the park for our guests to enjoy.”

Large areas were sown with a mixture of indigenous wildflower seed and grasses during the COVID-19 lockdown in early 2021. Selected for sandy soil, the indigenous seed mix contains 21 different types of wildflower (80%) and eight types of grass (20%). Wildflowers include Common Sanfoin, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Oxeye Daisies, Field Scabious and Viper’s Bugloss.

The New Forest and District Beekeepers’ Association was established over 100 years ago to represent the interests of beekeepers and beekeeping the New Forest and in the surrounding area. It is one of the larger beekeeping associations in England and is affiliated to the Hampshire Beekeepers’ Association and the British Beekeepers’ Association. To find out more, visit www.newforestbees.co.uk.

We’re so pleased to be open again! It’s such a pleasure to welcome back guests and once again see smiling faces on the park. We’d like to wish you a very warm welcome to the 2021 season. Let’s hope it’s longer than last year’s.

Our facilities will remain closed until 17 May. We’re sorry for the inconvenience, but showers are still not allowed to open and our showers and toilets are in the same block.

To mark the reopening we were interviewed on BBC radio solent this morning – here’s a video of our interview.

Wishing you wonderful holidays and safe travels this year from all the Back of Beyond team.

A big ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who voted us into the Top 100 Sites Guide 2021! It’s just been published by Practical Caravan magazine.

This year, we’ve not only made it into the Top 100, we’ve won several several major titles ! And it’s all thanks to public votes and, of course, our incredible team.

We’ve been named Regional Winner for Dorset (for the second year running) and we’re also very excited to have been named:

• Best Adults Only Site
• Best Site for Camping
• Best Green Site (for the second year in a row)

The Top 100 means a lot to us because the results are based on guests’ votes after they’ve stayed with us. We’re really grateful to everyone who took the trouble to vote for us and we’re so glad that so many people have enjoyed their time at our park.

Here’s a picture of our award-winning team celebrating early this morning:

We’ll post a link for voting in the Practical Caravan Top 100 2022 as soon as our park is open.

This is our current understanding of how the 4-step roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions announced by the Prime Minister on 23 February will affect us:

The full announcement is at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-to-the-house-of-commons-on-roadmap-for-easing-lockdown-restrictions-in-england-22-february-2021

Our park may be closed for the winter, but we’re incredibly busy! This year we’re working through all weathers to build more hardstanding pitches for the 2021 season and some of them are going to be fully serviced – a first here at Back of Beyond!

Every year we invest in the park and this year we’re creating around many more hardstanding pitches so there will be nearly 70 in total! These are ideal for caravans, motorhomes, campervans and trailer tents. They’re more suitable than grass pitches for off-peak and winter stays, and having more hardstanding pitches has helped us earn our new 5 Pennant Gold rating from the AA.

Twenty-one of the new hardstanding pitches are going to be fully serviced. That means each pitch has its own fresh water and electricity supply along with a grey water drain. If you’ve ever stayed on a fully serviced pitch, you’ll know how convenient it is to have your own water and electricity supply and drainage.

To make the hardstandings we’re going through these stages listed (pictures below). We’re also laying drains, pipes and cables to the fully serviced pitches and putting in new bollards.

• First we’ve dug out areas for the hardstanding, removing soil and rubble.
• Then we’ve we’ve put wooden shuttering 4 inches deep around the edges of these dug out areas to retain the sides.
• Weed membrane is the first covering to go in the hole to stop weeds and grass growing in the hardstanding area. It’s permeable to rainwater so that it doesn’t get waterlogged.
• The membrane is then covered by 4 inches of Mendip stone, which needs to be levelled and flattened with a roller.
• To finish, the hardstanding area is dressed with shingle.

Fully serviced pitches information

The Superior Hardstanding Fully Serviced Pitches measure around 23 x 12 metres on average, with the smallest 14 x 12 metres. Some are over 25 metres long! These pitches will also have picnic tables provided.

The standard size Hardstanding Fully Serviced pitches are around 12 x 10 metres with a 10 x6 metre hardstanding area.

Costs per night for a fully serviced pitch range from £27 to £46 depending on pitch size and time of year.

Tips for staying on a fully serviced pitch

Our pitches are very large, so please make sure you bring a long grey waste hose. You may also need a Y Piece to connect the waste hose to your caravan waste pipes. For the fresh water tap you’ll need a good length of food grade hose to reach your tank or butt from the tap.

Find out more

• See where the new pitches are located on the Park Map.
• Go to Touring and Camping for information about all our different types of pitches.
• Check out the prices on the Prices and Booking page

Here’s some good news to start the new year and our new news section: the AA has raised our grading to 5 Pennant Gold!

After our AA inspection late last year, the inspector felt that the quality of our park warranted an upgrade from 4 Pennants to the top tier of 5 Pennants. He was impressed by the quality of the shower blocks and amenities, as well as the parkland, the size of our pitches and the number of new hardstanding pitches introduced in 2020.

The inspector also took into account the fact that we are offering fully serviced pitches for the 2021 season. You can read about his findings, in the AA Caravan & Camping Guide 2021 which is on sale now.

We’re delighted with our updated entry which begins: “This lovely adults-only park, a member of the Tranquil Parks group, is set in 30 acres of woodland and offers plenty of pleasant walks. Visitors are sure to receive a warm welcome from the owners and their team.”

Read more about our park

How the AA pennant scheme works

Under the AA hospitality ratings scheme, every park is graded from 1 to 5 Pennants following a visit from an AA inspector. The number of pennants is determined by the size of the park and standard of facilities: 1 = simple standard; 2= better; 3= very good; 4 & 5 = extremely high.

To achieve 5 Pennants, parks must not only be of an extremely high standard, but also be set in attractive surroundings with mature landscaping. Facilities, security and customer care must be first class and most pitches should have electric hook-ups.

Gold Pennants means our quality score is above 90%!  The very top rating is 5 Pennants Platinum (one above ours) for above 95%.

To find out more about the AA ratings and awards, go to https://www.theaa.com/hotel-services/ratings-and-awards