Clayford Field

Boots or bikes are a given, so you can get out onto all those local trails, but it’s also worth chucking your fishing kit and/or golf clubs in the car – the White Sheet Trout Fishery is about a five-minute drive away and the Ferndown Forest Golf Club about 10. A riding stables is 20 minutes away for those who’d like to hack through the woods, and there’s wakeboarding, kayaking, paddleboarding and a crazy inflatable obstacle course on the lake at New Forest Water Park (25 minutes). It’s a 25-minute drive to the Dorset coast from here – set your sights on Bournemouth or Sandbanks for a sweep of sandy beaches, or head to Poole for boat trips to the nature reserve on Brownsea Island. Treating the kids to a day out? Let them pick from Farmer Palmer's Farm Park, the waterslides at Splashdown waterpark, the friendly cartoon characters of Peppa Pig World or animal antics at Monkey World; all are within a 45-minute drive. On a smaller scale (literally) is Wimborne Model Town, 10 minutes away.