Riversidelakes

What a wonderful place to relax & get back to nature. I haven’t got a bad word to say about the site, it was perfect in every way from the lush meadow in which you camp to the immaculate toilet block. We went for a dip in the lake with the fish, explored the beautiful woodland and our son enjoyed the rope swing & paddling in the stream and to top it all; as evening drew in a glow stick was delivered to the tent for him along with fire wood for the brazier. We sat by the fire drinking hot chocolate & counting the stars before going to bed, the site was quiet so no problems drifting off. The owners were very friendly & helpful. I can’t recommend it enough. Need to book early though.

A really great campsite, among the best, if not the best campsite I’ve stayed at. The difference is made by the genuinely thoughtful owner/managers, who really do care that your stay is a good one. Well spaced pitches, interspersed through meadows and woodland, braziers for fires with logs at cost price with kindling, matches and firelighters all provided and delivered by golf cart (so quiet that we didn’t notice it outside the thin walls of our tent!). Perfect for families, but good for everyone else as well. Whole-heartedly recommend.

All the family absolutely loved this site. The space inbween pitches is great and the children loved all the space to run around. We went with friends and there are lots of pitched that work for groups. The facilities are hotel standard they were so big and clean. The location is great for both the new forest and the beaches of mudeford. We have booked again already for this year. Definitely give it a try

What a great campsite! There are so many options for camping. We stayed in our campervan in the lower field with electric hookup. The big field is perfect for watching the sunset from the comfort of your tent. There are also big bell tents to hire with their own fire pit and benches.

It's great to be able to have an open fire to sit around. The owners drive round with bags of logs (£4 each) in the evening and supply fire lighters and matches.

Lots of stuff to do in the area and the Jurassic Coast isn't far away.

Class campsite and really great owners. Oh and Sharon drives round in her ice cream van if you fancy one. Total bonus.

Ah what a lovely campsite! We stayed for a weekend and had such a relaxing time, we felt like we had been away for longer. When we arrived the owners told us that the pitch we had booked was amongst a couple of tents with lots of children, and us being a young couple, they thought we would want a pitch a little quieter. So the owner took us round of his buggy and showed us all the alternative pitches which was great! So we ended up choosing one of the 'isolation' areas, which was absolutely lovely! Very clean facilities, and beautiful setting! The only negative thing we can say is that, depending on the direction the wind is blowing, there is a little noise from the road, but very minimal! We will visit again!

What an amazing site this is ! The owners are so friendly and really cant do enough for you! The site is quiet with good facilities and you have so much space ! We stayed here in July and were amazed by the pigs, chickens and ducks..when we came back in September the place had got better! Fantastic clean facilities! Great location and if you are brave enough to walk to Drusillas Inn for dinner you might just get a life back ! Cannto wait to come back next year !

What can I say - FANTASTIC. Our 6 year old just said "Can we stay forever". This is a brilliant camp site which I think is particularly great for families. There are a relatively small number of pitches for the size of the site and they are really spread out - this means there is loads of space all around you with brilliant meadows. You may think that the car free site mayeb a bit weird - but it is perfect - we could let our son run around all day without any concerns. The braziers / fires by the tents make evenings dreamy and the glow sticks handed out for the kids every night again make for the perfect holiday. The facilities are top notch. The owners are great and can't do enough to make you welcome, a warm smile and always helpful. Would highly recommend anyone goes to this site - we will definately be returning.

Just returned from a wonderful weekend at Riversidelakes, I can't recommend it enough and staying there for a weekend isn't enough! Although both of us have been camping before it was our first camping trip on our own, inevitably we had troubles putting the tent up but had offers from fellow campers and one of the campsite owners (Nigel?) to help which was really nice and shows you what kind of friendly, relaxed atmosphere there is here. Nights are perfect for lying back and star gazing with a beer or two and the campfire going, on the Saturday night there was even a mini gig going on over at the communal campfire which was nice to hear from where we were but we were too relaxed to move!! Of course in keeping with no noise after 11pm rule it ended around that time so everyone could get a good night sleep. It's a perfect location, near to New Forest and Bournemouth. We only had time to visit New Forest, we parked the car at Ringwood long stay (bargain for £5 a day) and caught the hop on hop off bus from there which was perfect when you only have one day and want to get around as much as possible. Stopped off at Lyndhurst for a walk into the forest and Burley for a pub lunch and watching the horses stop traffic! Anyway, not to digress from the beautiful campsite, in the evening when we arrived back from New Forest we had a little explore around the site and was amazed! Aside from the pretty heather covering the main site if you have a wander around the lakes you'll find all sorts of little bridges and woods and more lakes, there's a couple of rope swings lying around, I can see why it's so popular with families with kids, they would have a field day here! In fact I wish we could have had more time to have a day on the campsite, possibly fishing by the lake. Of course I can tell you all this and you can think it sounds nice but it's only when you go yourself you feel what a lovely, friendly, relaxed atmosphere there is. Toilets are clean, I didn't use the shower but they looked clean and the other half was impressed with his shower! There's a few soul pad bell tents tucked in secluded spots around the back in the woods, which look lovely, one even had fairy lights ahh! The owners couldn't have been more accommodating, especially when Maggie found room for us to stay in our pitch an extra night which we decided a couple of days after booking. The site is well signposted off the main road, you do have to go down a narrow, bumpy country lane, well pretty much a dirt track but as long as you go slowly you'll be fine, we even were with a front splitter on the car!

We had such a nice time here that instead of staying in a log cabin for our 30th next year we want to come here instead, there are some perfect pitches for groups right at the back, so if you want to stay up chatting with a beer, they seem perfect.

The only thing I would say that is the slightest negative is we noticed that the nearest pub wasn't right out of the campsite like this website review says, it's probably about a five minute drive, this would probably only be about a 10-15 minute walk at a guess but might be a little unsafe after dark to walk that far down a country lane! Not much can be helped about that though and it's certainly not a slight on the site, you are provided with local information when you arrive which even includes a take away and taxi list so there's always other alternatives. Apart from that this website review is spot on, Riversidelakes is everything it says and more and we can't wait to go back again!

We have stayed at this wonderful site twice this year, once with a large group of friends and once on our own. Both stays have been great and favourite moments include chilling back in the evening, watching the smoke from the fire pits and braziers drifting up through the long grasses across the site; the children leaping into the swimming lake; the creation of 'Narnia' in the woods by our 8 year old and her friends; and Maggie and Nigel's incredible hospitality. The facilities are excellent and it is one of those palces where they really seem to have thought of everything. We will definately be back!

We have just returned from a one night stay in a six man Soul Pad at Riverside Lakes. From the moment we arrived in bright sunshine to when we left in slightly drizzly rain, everything was perfect. The owners and their family could not have been more helpful, from ferrying luggage and excited teenagers to our car free pitch to providing dry logs, firelighters and matches (£4 a big bucket). Our Hideaway tent was great. Set back from the path but with a big enough area around it to provide a volleyball pitch and plenty of sunbathing space. Wonderfully clean queue-free shower block. There was really no need to bring any equipment at all - a real bonus for a short camping trip. The picnic style table, extremely comfortable mattresses (we all slept until 9am - unheard of in past camping experiences), bottled water, lanterns with night lights and the most user friendly cooking appliance we have ever come across. The paella pan cooked bacon and seven fried eggs all at the same time! Shift breakfasts are a thing of the past here! Four teenagers all braved the lake to swim and embraced camping here as definitely "cool".

A big thank you to everyone at Riverside Lakes for making our short stay really memorable. We will return soon.

We had a wonderful, relaxing stay at this beautiful campsite. The site is well laid out, the new facilities block is lovely and the welcome was warm and friendly. We really enjoyed cooking over an open fire all weekend and made use of the freezer for cooling our ice blocks. Part of our group stayed in one of the bell tents, Hideaway, and it was wonderful. Some of us went for a splash in the lake which was great fun and the kids thoroughly enjoyed exploring the site, glowsticks and having rides in the trolleys which are for transporting your luggage. A long weekend passed without wanting to leave the site and we were sad to say goodbye. We will definitely be back!

We loved this campsite! It’s a beautiful site, there’s just the right number of pitches - not too crowded - and they’re spread over the site which means you don’t feel cramped. There’s meadows of flowers and long grass, lakes, little islands, winding paths through the woods, geese, baby geese...well, you get the picture. There’s even some posh bell tents you can hire - we weren’t that posh unfortunately, but our friends were and the tent was AMAZING. You’re allowed to have camp fires and the wood is delivered to your pitch once you’ve bought it. Plus, the owners were super friendly and helpful - Nigel was delivering glowsticks for the children along with the logs while we were there. Really, really lovely.