Category: UK travelogue

Glamping in Dorset in Lytchett Manor

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I have been long wanting to document our travels and yet I have never gotten to doing them, despite making a beginning. This time I am determined to not let the trip to Dorset and Cornwall slip away in the endless gallery on my phone. So if you are reading this, I know that I have at least persisted with my beginning.

A while ago, K applied for his paternity leave and we had decided we would do a holiday together, our first long one since Ishaan’s arrival. Not having explored the English coastline at all, we decided to spend a few days in Cornwall. Now a trip to Cornwall is about 4 hours from where we live and we didn’t want to have Ishaan in the car seat for so long even if we were taking breaks. And so it was decided a day before the trip that we would look for a place enroute for a day trip and stay the night there before moving onward.

We picked Dorset with its beautiful Jurassic Coast.

Here is where we stayed:
Lytchett Manor https://www.southlytchettmanor.co.uk/accommodation-types/glamping-pods/

On our way, the staff from the glamping site gave us a call to confirm when we were likely to reach. The office closes at 5 PM so it definitely helps to plan your arrival before then or let the office know so your check in is arranged even when the office is closed.

That is just as we entered the glamping site. The directions are very straightforward and right at the entrance is the office (cum shop) to check in and pick up the keys.

As we drove in, we were met by this beautiful sight. I have never glamped before so these adorable eco friendly pods that dotted the green had me all excited!

One can park right next to their pod or across it – there is plenty of space. We were living off the car so as to keep our pod free from too many things and so parked right by the pod.

This is what you walk into – it is cozy and perfect for two. Now with four of us, two adults and two babies this was definitely a sort of adventure because the pods do not have a bath/restroom inside them. One needs to walk out to shared baths/toilets which by the way are very very well maintained. We have never stayed in a set up like this before so the novelty of it all was really exciting.

Needless to say, the pods are pet friendly and it is great given how much field there is to walk around. As always, Mili got her Sherlock cap on the minute we entered and picked her bed. That was a pull-out bed as well so it can in theory it can sleep 4 people.

It was quite the rainy thunderous night and only Ishaan slept well. But that was a much better situation than none of us sleeping at all.

The thing about glamping especially for absolute amateurs like us is how often we tend to forget some really fundamental items to pack because they are almost always available in the accommodation. However since moving to UK and choosing to spend holidays in cottages, we remember to pack the basic stuff well. Still, one of the things we really appreciated on this glamping site was having a shop that was well stocked with everything that one would need – toiletries, snacks, doggie biscuits and treats, baby calpol too! But they went several steps ahead and had a bakery where they sold fresh croissants, bread and swirls in the mornings for breakast. We loved their pain au chocolat. The coffee was very decent too.

I even managed to pick some local goodies from there – Dorset knobs and some honey marshmallows from a lady who made them in her home nearby.

In the evening, as we stood out and looked at the views behind our pod, we saw these caravans, some really well furnished and it felt strangely familiar. I had been reading some stories based on van lifers, in fact I had one right with me here to read on the trip.

I have often wondered what it must feel like, this life on the move quite literally. Are there more opportunities to pause when you are on a move like this? How liberating it must be to live with exactly what you need, to constantly look up for new places to explore! Certainly it is not wrought without challenges but the charm is very tempting.

I leave you with this. Our little Mili, always up for a journey. She loves home, she didn’t have great sleep in the pod but – there is always a wag in her tail, a spring in her step and an infectious spirit every time we say, “Let’s go!”

Fall-ing in love

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I have gushed about it a fair bit on the gram now. I cannot be happier about living in fall in pretty pretty Surrey. It is an era by itself, you see. Those luscious green trees from summer..

..morphing into several pops of colours,

to adorn homes,

and lay out a carpet of the most magical wonders,

for you and me to stop and look closer and unravel one of them,

and feel celebratory,

for here you can find, on your most casual walks, all those magical things you read about in your childhood, come alive from books.

You don’t have to do much to enjoy all of this. You only need to step out..

..and it is all there, waiting for you. Right at your doorstep.


You’d think it cannot get better than that but mostly it does once you turn on your oven or stove and bring out your tubers and roots.

“What is it you love about fall?” they asked.

“Let’s go for a walk and I will show you,” I smiled.

An afternoon at Dorset’s Highcliffe Beach

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We have for a while been raring to take Mili (our 4 month Cavalier pup) with us on a small getaway. Now that she has received her vaccinations and is free to travel, we jumped right to it. We were specifically looking for dog-friendly getaways (and there are quite a few of them, thank you UK).

One of our friends M recommended New forest and we decided to make a trip to New Forest and visit the Highcliffe beach, last weekend. After a day and night at New Forest (that I will share in another post), we spent a few hours on our way back at Highcliffe. Less than 10 miles away from New Forest, we totally recommend this experience.

It was such a chilly day with dark clouds looming over in spots as we started our drive but the sky opened up beautifully as we neared the coast. And then, it rained. So while we sat in the car waiting for the rain to soften a bit, we noticed how the sky over the beach was much clearer than over the parking lot. I can never get enough of these wonders seriously.

The rain mellowed down pretty fast so we literally jumped out of the car. Beaches are lovely (if not lovelier) in the rains, don’t ever doubt me on that. But I am a very cautious (new) mother and we had too many new things for Mili as it is, and getting her drenched was not something I was eager to do. But Mili? She was oh-so-excited to see so many cars, people and dogs! I think she’d be just as thrilled to be in the parking lot.

The beach line a la Jurassic coast is indeed very beautiful – very clean, lots of sand and gravel for Mili to walk and little rocks for her to climb and watch the sea in great contemplation. There are several promenades and paths to explore but we stuck to the beach. Despite it being so windy and chilly and being threatened to be blown away (not kidding), we loved walking it. There were quite a few fur friends and people around (have tried to keep that away in the pictures) despite the roller coaster weather. Mili absolutely loved saying hello to all of them, always reminding them if they didn’t.

It really was a beautiful morning watching people enjoy the beach with families irrespective of the weather (and the popular notion against it). We met absolutely delightful couples who took time to cuddle Mili and fuss over her as she happily lapped it all up. That’s thing about UK – how inclusive so many facilities are for pets, the acceptance and the love that people have for them. As first time pup-parents, it has been pretty breezy bringing her out thanks to this. We cannot wait to explore more of such delightful nooks soon.

It was only when it started raining we realised how far we had walked. We may go back to the beach and the Highcliffecastle (that we could not explore that day) in the summer!

That Jurassic coastline and this little girl.

Some tips: For those planning a trip I really urge you to go, no matter what the weather. This link has some good details to plan your trip. A word on the car parks – the two easiest ones are the cliff top car park (the drive to this is not steep, just that it is a cliff overlooking the sea but not all that elevated at all) and the Steamer Point Car park where we parked. There is a cafe on the cliff near the cliff top car park but we did not go there since we were not parked there and most importantly, we already had our coffees with us.