We were recently invited to stay at Burnbake Forest Lodges, in Corfe Castle, Dorset. Burnbake Lodges are in the middle of beautiful countryside. Each lodge has its own hot tub and a few of the lodges are dog-friendly. They sleep either four or six people, so we came along with our friends, Rosie and Olly. Inside, the lodges are spacious, but also cosy. Ours had two bedrooms, two en-suite bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room with log burner. Then outdoors you have a gated terrace, which is great for dogs. There’s an outdoor table and a the all important hot tub, which was our favourite bit!
Read on to find out how we spent our few days in Dorset:
Day One
As we were travelling in a group of four, we were unable to get to the lodges that early on the first day (due to work commitments). So, I went to the supermarket at home to collect some groceries and we left the the Isle of Wight around 5pm, making it to Dorset for 8/9pm. The first thing we spotted when we got to the lodges was the cutest little dog box – which contained a couple of dog bones, some doggy shampoo, poo bags and dog bowls.
We bought some disposable BBQs with us and sat outside in the middle of the forest, enjoying our food. After dinner, we quickly unpacked, opened the vino and got straight in that hot tub, while the boys enjoyed their bones.
The lodge came equipped with some board games and we also bought a few of our own (Articulate being our favourite). So we spent the rest of the evening playing board games, eating snacks and having a few drinks. When it was time for bed, Henry made himself comfortable in my travel bag (like he always does) and Oscar took to the dog bed. The human bed was very comfy too!
Day Two
We started the day off with toast at the lodge and a little walk around the campsite. It was nice to see it so busy, with people on their family holidays – a lovely atmosphere. It started off as a cloudy, but dry day, so decided to head to Corfe Castle for the day. Burnbake is about a 3 mile walk each way, but as the weather was a little ominous, we decided to drive to the village of Corfe. We spent some time exploring the castle, which is dog-friendly. The views from the top were gorgeous and you could even see the steam train going past. We stopped off at the Corfe Castle cafe for a quick drink and then walked into the town, to have a look around the shops. Most of the local shops were also dog-friendly, which we always appreciate.
Then, we went into Wareham, which is the next town along. Wareham is very small, so there’s not a lot there, but we grabbed a quick lunch and an excellent coffee from Coffee Saloon (which is now called the GOAT), before heading back to the lodges for hot tub and chill.
To be honest, we spent most of this trip in the lodges, but more specifically in the hot tub. We all needed a relaxing break and Burnbake definitely delivered that!
Day Three
We started the day with breakfast in the lodge. Burnbake provide a free of charge breakfast box – including local eggs and bacon, a fresh loaf of bread and the nicest butter. There’s tea bags and a coffee machine with pods in the lodge and you get fresh milk too. This made for a great breakfast. I’m always very happy when I stay somewhere with decent coffee pods! So we all sat together for a lovely breakfast before loading the cars up and leaving the lodges.
But before leaving, we met up with our friends, Zoe and Scott, and their cockapoo, Teddy. The boys love playing with Teddy. He is just the fluffiest thing, so they love jumping into his floof. He’s super energetic too, so it was nice to ware the boys out while catching up with our friends.
On the way home, we stopped off in Swanage for a walk along the beach and an ice cream. It was actually a beautiful day, so lovely to be in a seaside town. We spent some time walking through the town and had a cheeky Harry Ramsdens, because you can’t go to the seaside and not get chips and gravy.
Then we made our way back down to the island, with two very snoozy pugs on board. Dorset is great, because it’s actually really close for us. We got the Wightlink ferry to Lymington and from there, Burnbake is only an hour and a half.
If you’d like to see more of our adventures at Burnbake, you can watch our YouTube video here.
