Solent Breezes Holiday Park

Seadogs will find this stretch of the Solent stuffed with sights and attractions covering all things nautical: the village of Warsash has a sailing club for dingies and yachts – and a maritime academy – and is the eastern landing point for the Hamble-Warsash ferry. (For landlubbers, there’s a tennis club in the village and it’s also on the 60-mile Solent Way route from Milford-on-Sea to Emsworth.) The historic ports of Southampton and Portsmouth are around the same distance from Suffolk Sands in either direction: Southampton is the biggest city in Hampshire and has an acclaimed maritime museum to navigate towards and a Titanic Trail around the city – pick up maps of it and other Southampton strolls at the SeaCity Museum in Havelock Road. To be a true sailor with a bottle of rum, Southampton’s Ocean Village, Town Quay and Leisure World complex should wet whistles as well as line stomachs. Portsmouth day trippers can goggle at the fish in the giant underwater tunnel at the award-winning Blue Reef Aquarium or take a harbour tour around Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to see ships including HMS Victory and the Mary Rose; there are regular ferries to France from the harbour too. Cabin buoys and girls will find heaps of Hampshire highlights to drag the elders to: Paultons Family Theme Park and Peppa Pig World is just outside Southampton on the edge of the New Forest, and for those who like their animals non-fictional, Manor Farm Country Park is near Suffolk Sands and has lashings of events as well as animals to feed and coo at. For cantering, Pinkmead Farm Equestrian Centre is a little further inland for beginners to expert riders. But back to the elders…also within easy reach of Suffolk Sands is the historic city of Winchester with its museum, shopping and 900 year old cathedral with capital choir, the third century Roman fort of Portchester Castle, and chilling at Wickham Vineyard where there’s also a restaurant and wine courses. Or to keep everyone happy, steam across to the Isle of Wight with its attractions, beaches, shopping and watersports.