Seven Tips For a Stay at The Rolling Downs with Small Kids

This is a follow-up to my very, very long post about our stay at The Rolling Downs, a pair of shepherd’s huts in the grounds of Bentley Country Park. If you haven’t seen it, you can read it here.

Here are some things it’s worth considering if you’re planning a stay here with small children.

1. You’ll have early starts. Be aware that if you have very young children, the huts do not have blackout blinds/curtains and the birds will probably wake them up if the light doesn’t. Do not get drunk and go to bed at midnight on your first night.
2. Wood-burning stoves and tiny children probably don’t mix. The stoves are right in the living spaces. If your children are tiny (crawling to three) and the weather is on the cool side, consider saving a stay here for when they’re old enough to understand not to touch them. Or for the summer.
3. Take crayons or pencils. There is (lovely) fabric everywhere. And the large hut is bijou so don’t pack pens. I watched him like a hawk, but my toddler still managed to mark the crisp fitted sheet on his bed.
4. Waterproofs are key. Even if it’s blisteringly hot, you will need wet weather gear. When they wake up, your children will want to go outside. Our second morning there was a heavy dew (the first, everything was soaked after a storm).
5. Take a cool box. And park it under the hut in the shade. This is key if you want to avoid ferrying back to Lewes every day for food. And more importantly, you need to keep your alcohol cold.
6. Keep them out of the bathroom. You don’t want them dropping mini tractors down the pump-action loo now, do you? Ours didn’t, but they would have given half a chance – for some reason they were obsessed with the loo!
7. There are no power points. Your smartphone will die. Embrace it! It’s a chance to be truly present with your children.

To book at stay at The Rolling Downs, contact Clare through the site at therollingdowns.co.uk