Wareham Forest Lodge Retreat

We are so disappointed with the condition of this lodge after staying at 6 or more Darwin escape lodges previously The lodge was very smelly and dirty on arrival it’s extremely scruffy and unmaintained We reported it to the main office who was were helpful but unable to change our accommodation A lovely lady in the reception came to clean the lodge unfortunately the smell and scruffiness didn’t improve We had to call the out of hours to report our heating wasn’t warm enough we were advised that the heating is controlled by the park and cannot be turned up above 20 which is totally unacceptable the thermostat is in the kitchen area so switches off and the bathroom and bedroom stay cold Nowhere does it state the heating restrictions We have contacted Hoeseasons who were who we booked through waiting on a response Them

Having stayed with Darwin Escapes at Bath (twice), Axminster and Blenheim Palace, we knew what standard we were expecting and the type of facilities and amenities on the park. It didn't disappoint! Where else could you go and have three decent sized bedrooms (one en suite with a dressing room), a washer/dryer, wine cooler, dishwasher, decked area and four TVs? Yes, there's no bar or restaurant and no gym or spa pool but the tranquility is superb. There's a pub next door and Poole is less than 20 minutes drive (Wareham about three miles away). We weren't overlooked and there were no noisy neighbours. The weather was glorious so we were eating on the outdoor patio furniture at breakfast, heading off for the day with a picnic and eating outside again in the evening (accompanied by some alcohol chilled in the wine fridge). Yes, the flush broke on the en suite toilet but the on call person stopped it from constantly filling when she visited in response in the evening and the maintenance man fixed it the following day. We also had one gas ring not working, again fixed promptly. Oh, and we had no cafetiere when we arrived. As we had a cafetiere in other Darwin Escapes lodges, a quick enquiry at Reception resolved this issue. We were able to park two cars outside the lodge without the need to shuffle them constantly and access was easy. If I am getting nit picky then a worktop space either side of the sink to separate clean and dirty dishes would have been nice and a larger drawer for cutlery would have been great. Such lovely problems to have! An option for a later (chargeable) check out, maybe 11am, would be lovely but I can't complain as we were able to check in at 3pm on arrival.

Once again, we’ve had another fabulous stay and absolutely love it here. The lodges are great…… really clean, very well equipped, comfortable and the staff are wonderful. We would thoroughly recommend a stay and can’t wait to come back again