Author: Matthew Cashmore

I love this place, I really do. The beer was outstanding (Brains SA don’t ‘ya know) the people where friendly, the sun was out and I managed to pinch a plot right in the middle of an Ariel bike club meet.. couldn’t be much more perfect.

The field is small, but will easily accommodate up to about 80 tents, there’s no real order to the place, you can either park well away from the pub (and noise) under trees at the bottom, or much nearer the action right next to railway sleepers.

The pub itself is wonderful – it gets exceptionally busy on a Saturday night but the food was top notch, as was the music in the main bar, the bar staff helpful and friendly. Downstairs, as you can see from the photos is a small marquee which you can hire for your own party – they’ll even set up a small bar right next to it.

The Barge is in the middle of no-where and in one of my most favourite places in the UK – Wiltshire – it’s a great little ride down with many opertunities to try out many types of road – but in the end you’ve no choice but to hack around some curvy B-Roads. The nearest shop is 5 miles away, and the nearest neighbour to complain is even further.

There’s a B&B down the road, but to be honest if we go to the Barge you’ll have little option but to camp – unless you can hire a barge for the weekend and sleep on that!

The music has to stop at midnight dead (the local bobby comes to check) but we can carry on – the bar will close at midnight – but we can carry on 🙂 There’s a very laid back attitude – including booking. It’s first come first served unless you ring and pay in advance – then they’ll rope off an area for you.

You can have a huge BBQ – they even have the kit there – and are happy for you to have a hog roast – but no open fires.

The facilities are, well, basic. Drinking water is easy to get to, and clean, but the toilets are another matter. In the gents the area you wash your teeth in is right next to the urinal – not the best smell whilst cleaning and shaving – the shower is basic, and not very clean – but it does work and the water is very warm at all hours – I solved this situation by getting up at 7am to shower – before anyone else – there’s no way I would have showered in there after everyone else…

The journey is 95 miles from Waterloo, London, if you use the M4, probably about the same if you use A roads – but still around 100 miles – which isn’t too bad and will only take a couple of hours – and given it’s one of the most beautiful areas of the country… I did’t mind!

You can see the pics from The Barge Inn here;

http://londonbikers.com/galleries/gallery/518dcfac-782e-4a4e-9f9d-91783aa80a03

Okay, I must admit I didn’t like this place much… but that’s not to say that it’s a bad place… just ‘clinical’. The day didn’t start well… I’d just ridden through the only place in England as beautiful as Wales (Wiltshire from the Barge Inn) into the most boring place on earth – Nofolk. The ride to The Angel was boring boring boring – I’m sure there may be better ways to get there but I couldn’t find them – I had to stop twice to down a Red Bull and pop some Pro Plus!

I must also apologise about the lack of photos… I fell asleep and left the camera turned on.. so flat battery – I did get pics of the site but not of the pub – which was actually very nice.

The biggest selling point about The Angel is that it’s about 100 yards from Snetterton (and a very busy road even in the middle of the night – ear plugs a must guys) which means that whilst some could bugger off on a ride-out over the weekend – those of a racing persuasion could get a track day in – or watch some racing – or whatever else it is you do on a track.

The site is brand new – it’s laid out extremely well – it has a bar which the landlord will open for large groups and you can have our own fenced off area. The ground is level and well kept, and the facilities are the best I’ve ever seen at a camp site anywhere. The showers are as good as you’ve got at home, there are large mirrors, clean sinks, and separate toilet blocks. Rubbish is kept well out of the way, and they’re happy for you to bring your own BBQ and Hog Roast – but no open fires.

To be blunt this site is amazing, it’s clean, simple, has fantastic facilities and is very near Snetterton. There’s a good ride out down towards Suffolk, and the pub is loverly. The food at the pub was great, and even better they have full B&B so those who don’t want to camp don’t have to – even better – if you do camp and want a full english – no problem they’ll sort that for you – just head over to the breakfast room in the morning and nothing is too much trouble.

So what’s my problem? I don’t really have one – I got board silly on the way there, I found the site, whilst amazing, clinical with no feeling or atmosphere, and the road right next to it very noisy. For a large group or club it seems perfect though – 96 miles from Waterloo, London… easy ride.

See the pics from The Angel here;

http://londonbikers.com/galleries/gallery/ae11af1f-30fa-4c49-bc9e-7aa9136fac6e

Roundhill is the only camp site in the New Forest that will accept Motorbikes – the coolest thing about the site is that the motorbike field is well away from the main family area so large groups will not disturb other people.

The site is quite far away though and you have to be dedicated to get there, there’s also NO PUB anywhere near so you’d have to take everything – they let you take a van onto the field but you’d have to remove it after you’ve unloaded it. Hog-roast would be fine with them – but no wood fires.

Site staff are very friendly and helpful.

There are a lot of really great roads around the site, I had a great time riding around the New Forest – until I got pulled for doing 90 on the 40 limit roads (they’re all 40!) but fortunately for me the roads are owned by the commission so the copper could only ‘advise’ me to go slower.

There’s a good little shop near (1 mile) but it’s very small and would be no good to buy food from (they had a very limited supply of everything).

Summary
Perfect if you want a secluded spot where you can go wild and want to do everything yourself.  My problems with the site where small… toilets where too far away, I was frowned at a lot, roads would be fun if there wasn’t a stupid limit, and they where crowded with cyclists. No pub near, and shop was very limited. I will prob go there again… but with my wife not a bike club.

See pictures from the site here;

http://londonbikers.com/galleries/gallery/a2711b8a-e701-4d1d-96dc-3f54ab0bdaea