YHA National Forest Youth Hostel

We regularly go riding to Hick Lodge (The National Forest Cycle Centre) and on the last bank holiday weekend we decided that we would stop in the area to do some biking and visit the outdoors centre called Conkers.

(Read my review of Hicks Lodge here.)

Some of our friends have been suggesting for a while that we should give youth hostelling a go. When we looked at the accommodation in the area we saw that the National Forest Youth Hostel was right next door to Conkers, and two miles away from Hick’s Lodge. At a bargain £29 a night, for a family room for the three of us, we thought we’d give it a go.

I would be stopping Saturday and Sunday night, with the wife and Char booked in to spend an extra night after I left.

.

First Impressions

We headed over to the National Forest on the Saturday morning and dropped into the youth hostel first, to drop the wife’s car off and have a nose around.

The hostel itself is a relatively new custom built facility standing in its own grounds with a large car park and plenty of green space. Inside everything was nice and clean; the staff all had smiles and were very friendly. We went through to the main lounge (which had a number of sofas and tables and chairs) and ordered a couple of drinks from the little café (nice coffee) and sat down and took in the surroundings. The one thing that struck us straight off was how chilled the place was, it had a great relaxing atmosphere and we instantly felt at home.
After we had our drink we headed off to Hick’s Lodge for our bike ride, looking forward to coming back later to see our room.

The room was great. Not massive, but a great space to crash and get washed and dressed. Ours was a three bed room, although they also do four and five bed.
The bed arrangement comprised of a double bed with a single bunk above it, Char loved sleeping on the bunk, even though it is only advised for over seven’s. Bedding is also provided (but no towels).
There’s a couple of cabinets to put your clothes in, a hanging rail to hang clothes on and a further under bed storage cabinet. There’s also a couple of sockets to plug your electrics into.
The bathroom is a wet room with a shower sink and toilet. The water in the shower was warm (couldn’t really be described as hot), but not particularly powerful.

.
Each room has its own key, with each corridor having key code entry. (The front door also has a key code for entry after 10pm.)

.
Mealtimes

We had the sit down meal on the first night (which has to be booked by 6pm and is served at 7pm). There are two courses (dinner and a pudding) with there being two options for the main course, one being vegetarian.
The food quality was very good and I had a very tasty bacon, tomato and cheese pasta; the wife and Char had the vegetable pasta. There was also salad and naan to accompany the meal. If you were feeling in an Oliver Twist mood you could even go up for seconds.
For pudding there was ice cream or fruit salad. Again, very nice.
For £7.95 each, with kids eating free it proved to be good nosh at a reasonable price.

On the following nights, we made our own food in the on site kitchen. Pots, pans, crockery and cutlery are all provided (which obviously need to be washed and dried afterwards). There’s also cupboards and fridges for you to keep your provisions in.

We also had breakfast on the first morning (booked the night before), but I was less impressed with this. If you’re after cereal and toast is fine, buy I want too impressed with the English breakfast, the sausages in particular tasted a bit strange and had an odd texture. At £5.95 for adults and £2.95 for kids we’ll be doing our own toast and cereal in the kitchen in future.

.

Keeping the Kids Entertained

The thing we noticed when we returned on the evening was how many kids were about, it’s definitely a family orientated hostel. The sun was out, so we sat outside and Char was off making new friends, playing on the nice grassy area in front of the lodge, and generally having a blast. Other than stopping for tea she played outside until we called her in at 10pm (way past her bedtime). This late night routine ended up being a theme that we repeated on the other nights we stayed at the hostel.

Inside the lounge it’s spacious and there’s a pool table of you fancy a game.

As for other things to do nearby, I wasn’t expecting there to be much, but there’s loads.

To name a few, we’ve got…
• Hicks Lodge (The National Forest Cycle Centre) 
• Conkers (a nice 10 minute walk along a woodland track)
• Rosliston Forestry Centre
• Calke Abbey
• Twycross Zoo
• National Memorial Arboretum
• Bradgate Park
• Ashby de la Zouch Castle
• Swadlincote Ski & Snowboard Centre
• Tamworth Snowdome
• National Forest Adventure Farm
• National Brewery Centre (perhaps this is more for the adults)

We did Conker’s on the Saturday and, although the inside displays were looking a bit tired, the outside bits were great (particularly the barefoot walk!). We used our Tesco vouchers to gain entry and it turned out to be a very cheap day out.

I headed home on the Monday night, leaving Char and Mommy there as they were heading to Twycross on the Tuesday. On the Tuesday morning they ended up booking an extra night so that they could go to Roliston on Wednesday, then head home.

.
Would I do it again?

Absolutely! I’m a fully fledged YHA convert now. The atmosphere was chilled, the facilities spot on and (most importantly) Char loved it.
Now that were back home were looking at where we can now have some mini autumnal and winter breaks away.