Peace and quiet, great for nature lovers but remote.
It is natural enough to expect that the Thetford Forest site would be set among trees and lovers of timberlands will not be disappointed. For those arboreally challenged, like myself, a night or two is no great issue, especially as the main raft of pitches – set in an arc around a number of quiet glades each with a collection of grass pitches – is relatively open and lets in a good deal of light and sun. There were lovely walks around, and within, the forest and I imagine that wild life lovers will find a few days here to be very absorbing. I am sure children will love it too although after a couple of days they might run out of things to do. There is an interesting walk with good information boards about the Desert Rats who trained here for five months prior to D-Day. I learned from this. There are no facilities but that’s a known standard and if that’s an issue to anyone they don’t come here. But it is also remote, and, in my view, that makes it primarily a stopover site or a weekend site; well for those of us in motorhomes anyway who prefer not to move once pitched. Aside from exploring the forests and spotting the birds and other wildlife or plant life there really isn’t anything much to do. There’s no public transport, and no pub, restaurant, shop or place of interest within safe walking distance. Even cyclists have few options unless they are up for energetic excursions of greater distance than I can manage these days. I cycled to Watton, a round trip of 15 miles which is about my limit – especially in the face of the unforgiving east Anglian wind. Watton seemed to be a pleasant little town with some interesting shops. For myself two nights was quite enough and I prefer to be in places where I can do more or, alternatively, easily get out and about using buses or trains. For those with cars this is plainly no issue and so I have written this not as a criticism (I research sites fully and I knew what to expect) but to inform those who see this as pertinent, whether positively or, like me, negatively. For some only wanting to relax and unwind with a good book, you might find this place to be perfection. The relief wardens were on duty when I came and they were lovely. My hard standing pitch was in excellent, fresh condition. I am not sure how old it was but compared to some very tired hard standings I have endured it was perfect. Wifi was slow, but I’ve learned to expect that, the Vodafone signal was good, TV reception was patchy. The bollards had TV points but I could not get these to work. I saw no indication anywhere that they didn’t work but I saw no one else with an aerial lead. Personally I’d only want to come here again as a stopover, and I would probably choose Mildenhall first for that purpose (despite its gloom as there you’re very much IN the forest) because at least the town is within easy reach; but I am glad I came here for a couple of nights to enjoy the walks, the forest, the birds and the information about the Desert Rats.
