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Hi there- virgin mototrhomers here!

We have hired a motorhome for 3 nights in early April and are very excited..but where do we go?  I have read the campsite review section and there are so many campsites that seem great!  We are headed to the New Forest first as we don't live too far away and then to Swanage and Dorset...but please any advice on good campsites would be very very welcomed.

We are a family of 4 with two girls under 9 and dog. we were thinking of 3 nights at different sites. perhaps one with entertainment, one with fab views and peace and quiet..all near the coast.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Hi teacherjacks

Welcome to the world of motorhoming!

Are you members of the CC coz I can highly recommend BLACK KNOWL CC site in Brockenhurst for your New Forest site BUT it does get booked up very early so you may have missed the boat there?

How about EAST FLEET FARM, near Weymouth for your peace and quiet site and SEADOWN, Charmouth for the coastal site?  Check out all the reviews.

We have stayed on all 3 (in our motorhome) and would highly recommend ALL 3 instantly!

Good luck.  Hope you enjoy it enough to do it again?!

Kernow Camper

Hollands Wood is lovely - especially with children, as is Red Shoot Camping near Linwood.

 I'm off to South Lychett Manor for May Bank Hol, so will see what that is like, but looks lovely and only 3 miles from Poole.

Enjoy your camping!

Well my recommendation would suit the dog !

My vote is Wareham Forest Touring park in Wareham, it is peaceful and in a forest setting - so endless trails and sniffs for the dog right from the pitch.  It has spotless facilities and small shop, outdoor pool and play area for the kids.  Not far from the coast (although obviously no sea views and would involve a drive).  A great site for those with kids who love the great outdoors.

I second wareham forest in Wareham. You can go through Wareham on your way to Swanage if you "drive around" past corfe, as opposed to taking the chain ferry from sandbanks (the chain ferry is fun and the kids would love it so why not take the chain ferry from swanage back accross to sandbanks when you have finished with swanage) 

Wareham would be a good stop over point if you wanted to visit Monkey World and the surrounding wareham forest with its Sika trail offering great walks and cycle rides for famillies and dog walkers.

There are not a great number of campsites in swanage itself you could try Ulwell , its a nice site with an indoor pool and play area and restaurant. There are a number of sites on the fringes of swanage, in villages such as corfe and langton matravers, but you would need to drive into swanage itself..unless you stayed in harmans cross, becasue harmans cross has a steam train link into swanage, so you could leave your car on site and take the old train.

Just a point about the dog - lots of beaches around here only allow dogs at certain times of the year so you should check first. heres a link to the the dorset council website regarding dogs on beaches hth http://www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=2803.