A weekend Unplugged with Forest Holidays | Mum In The Madhouse

A weekend Unplugged with Forest Holidays

With two boys aged nine and ten unplugging can be an issue sometimes. Not the time spent unplugged but the high tech tantrums when I tell them that it is time to turn off! We call it reluctance to transition in The Mad House.  We recently had an unplugged weekend at Sherwood Pines (Nottinghamshire) with Forest Holidays and it was a huge success.

a weekend unplugged

Our weekend unplugged

 

Sherwood Pines is around two and a half hours drive for us and we had a pet friendly cabin booked, so set off after school on Friday night.   Checking in was a breeze as I had filled out the online check in form and we were in our cabin and the boys in the hottub 12 minutes after arriving!

hot tub forest holidays

We had made the decision to have a tech free weekend (I still used my phone), but we took board games, books, colouring in and also watched some TV in our downtime. It was really important to me to have quality family time.

forest holidays cabin

On the Friday when we arrived (once we had dragged the boys out of the hot tub) we had a lovely walk around the woodland area. It was almost as though we all exhaled and immediately relaxed when we entered in to the woodland area. We returned to the cabin to find our ice cream, sweets and pop that we had pre ordered, along with our breakfast pack had been delivered and we watched a movie together.

mini archery

I woke on Saturday morning to MadDad cooking breakfast for everyone and the boys in the hottub again! We then walked to the Forest Retreat for our archery session.  We then popped back to the cabin for lunch before returning for a bush skills session with a Forest Ranger, all with Alvin in tow.  It was wonderful to do activities as a family and all learn together.

pine tea

We picked up a BBQ pack at the retreat for an evening meal at the cabin.  MadDad cooked whilst me and the boys took advantage of the sunny evening in the hottub!  The meat from the retreat was excellent and really great value.  We ended the evening with a competitive session of sleeping Queens.

Sunday we took a short walk to The Forestry Commission at Sherwood Pines, where Maxi and MadDad did Go Ape and Mini did Go Ape Junior. Me and Alvin spent the time watching and videoing them.  It was so much fun for them all.

The cabins at Sherwood Pines are superbly equipped and even have plastic wine glasses for the hot tub. We actually felt that the cabin was possibly the best cabin we have ever stayed in as a family.  It was so well set out, comfortable and smart, without feeling that we couldn’t relax.  The beds were really comfortable and we all slept really well, but that could have also been down to all the walks we did!

It was the perfect place to have an unplugged weekend and the kids didn’t miss their electronics at all.

Would we recommend it?  Yes we would and our friend Susan K Mann has just come back from Sherwood Pines with her family and they loved it too!

a family weekend unplugged

Disclosure: We were provided with a silver cabin at Sherwood Pines for the weekend by Forest Holidays.  We paid for all activities and provisions ourselves. 

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