Darwin Forest: Arrivals and First Impressions (Press Trip)

This year for Tilda’s anniversary

We were invited to stay at Landal Darwin Forest

Luxury Lodge Holidays in the Peak District

The forest had been on my radar for a long time

As it is close to where my sister lives in Derbyshire

We have a long list of places we long to explore in the Peak District

So this seemed an ideal opportunity to make a start on our To Visit List

We travelled up from Kent to near Matlock on a Friday morning

It was snowing as we left The Garden of England

But once we cleared the M25

The skies cleared too

Until we reached the peaks

And then it started snowing again

And as we arrived at the forest

Landal Darwin forest

The snow was falling softly onto an already white ground

I cannot describe to you the excitement of our little people

To see real snow

It is something of a rarity in Kent

To have falling, settling picture book snow

006 winter wonderland

We arrived at the forest lodges just after lunch

Presuming that our lodge would not be ready

But that we would be able to park up and explore

To our surprise the lodge was ready for us

We were given the keys and a super friendly welcome

With lots of information about what to do onsite

And in the surrounding area

The check in was quick and smooth

And came with a voucher for a free pint of milk

All of this was welcome after our travels

And set a wonderful warm tone for the rest of our stay

We found our lodge

Unpacked the car

Had a cup of tea

Wrapped everyone up warm

And headed out into the snow to explore

It was honestly like entering Narnia

Which was just perfectly magical

As we had brought The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

As our holiday read aloud!

Each lodge has a little lawn in front of it

We built a snowman here before venturing into the trees behind our lodge

That snowman survived the whole week

Long after the blanket of snow had gone

He was like our holiday lodge mascot

001 lawn

Esther found the way to the woods behind our lodge

We played here for a while before walking toward the famous Darwin drum kit!

007 darwin drumkit

On the way we found the Landal door

Known to us as the entrance to Narnia

005 narnia door

It was lovely walking through the winter wonderland

We found icicles galore

Frozen puddles

And were even able to skid snowballs across a frozen pond

012 frozen puddle

It was amazing to have arrived to our home for the week

And to feel the stresses and strains of everyday life

Float away

Like a snowflake on a winter’s breeze

We had longed for snow for so long

So this was a real holiday bonus

002 lodge

And the children were filled with wonder and awe

009 awe and wonder

The winter that Tilda died seemed to last forever

2013

It was just right that for her anniversary

We had travelled to the land of snow

011 winter woodland

The winter woodland

We had travelled to a magical forest

We spent a wonderful few hours exploring Darwin Forest

014 exploring

We found fairy doors

015 fairy doors

Searched for Snake in his log pile house

013 gruffalo hunt

Jammed on the drums

008 darwin drum kit

Played with the snow

010 edie snow

We even built a den

004 den building

All of this adventure

Before it was even time for tea!

We had our food shop delivered

And were soon back in the warm

And settling down to tea

The lodge was warm and inviting

The children bathed and showered

They chose their beds

And soon after our busy first day

We were all ready for sleep

With the promise of swimming

And more snow play in the morning

I did think at this point how splendid it would have been

To have a hot tub on the verandah

That would have been the perfect end

To a truly idyllic arrival at Landal Darwin Forest

A hot tub in the snow!

If you fancy a forest foray

Check out availability and special offers here

We were invited as guests to review Darwin Forest Country Park

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