Family Weekend Away in Hampshire Part 2

Welcome back to our little mini-adventure away in Hampshire! You may have read Part 1 (if not, read that first!) we arrived at our little B&B – The Red Lion in Odiham, had a lovely dinner and spent our first night, so this post is all about the next day….

It was a grey and drizzly day so we decided after breakfast head to Little Play Town which is a couple of doors down. I thought this would be like soft-play but it wasn’t, it was actually such a lovely idea – it is a complete mini town for children. It had different sections like a market, shops, construction site, beauty salon, vets and more. In each section children can role play and dress up. Violet was a bit little for it all really as it was aimed at walking babies and onwards but we still went along. She did enjoy exploring all the sections and watching older children playing, she learns so much from older children so I’m sure she was taking it all in. I wish we had something like this in Brighton, it was SO sweet and perfect for helping little ones learn too. Violet would love to go again when she’s a bit older!

After that we had a little explore around the quaint village of Odiham. It was a bit rainy, so we didn’t go far but we got a good feel for the place, I loved the cute shops and tearooms! We went for a spot of lunch at the French Creperie, which had an awesome undercover garden area, so we got to sit outside whilst keeping warm!

I think the theme of this little break away was relaxing and eating as we headed back to our room for a rest before dinner time. Violet chilled out and played with the toys that were provided so we could have a bit of a doze – perfect!

For our dinner on the second night, we headed out to the Duke of Cambridge in Tilford, this took us around 15-20 minutes in the car and is a sister pub to the Red Lion.

The Duke of Cambridge is a gorgeous country pub, the perfect place for sitting in the sunshine in the summer or a cosy evening by the fireplace in the winter. We were shown to our table which had lots of space for the pushchair (which we brought along this time, after Violet’s meltdown the night before!).

For starters, we both went for the Halloumi fries – and no, I don’t mean we shared this dish, we ordered ONE EACH. Whoops, that was a lot of cheese for a starter, but worth it as they were delicious. 

Next up the main courses, I went for a special of the day – the Fishcake, which was presented impeccably and tasted amazing, the green beans were so fresh and cooked to perfection. V went for the Vegetarian Wellington  (are you noticing a pattern here, she loves a Wellington!) – this was a good variation on the one from the previous night, with the lightest, fluffiest pastry that gave me proper food envy.

Onto the best part of the meal…. thank goodness this time Violet kept her cool and let us have pudding as we wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on these….

We went for the warm Chocolate Brownie with Salted Caramel and the Earl Grey Eaton Mess – which we just popped in the middle to share – yum!

After our giant dinner – honestly, I was STUFFED, we headed back (rolled) to our B&B room to snuggle up for the night. Thankfully, we had a much more restful night. Violet was a bit more sure of her surroundings and didn’t seem so unsettled, so we slept SO much better. The bed was so comfy too!

As this trip is all about eating, it wouldn’t be right to leave it without one more food snap. Needless to say the breakfast on our last morning was also amazing.

All in all, going away to Hampshire was a real treat. It wasn’t the relaxing mini-break we had before Violet came along, but we made the most of it – to be honest, just having all our food made for us with no washing up is a mini-break in itself! We had a lovely time with memories I’ll never forget.

** If you fancy a stay at The Red Lion Odiham (I recommend it!) then you can get a complimentary bottle of wine to your room with this code: Fizzypeacheswine (see T&C’s below) **