The family holiday that brings The Gruffalo to life in Hampshire

We’ve all needed our escapism over the past 18 months – the fantasy worlds found in books and films to carry us away from the non-stop negative news cycle of the pandemic. Part of my escapism has been in the bedtime routine I’ve established with my daughter. A chance to cuddle up together and lose ourselves in stories about talking animals, dancing giraffes, accident-prone dragons and so much more.

One of our favourites, naturally, is The Gruffalo, the famous tale of the plucky mouse who outwits his enemies, written by the wordsmith Julia Donaldson whose narrative pops off the page when combined with Axel Scheffler’s delightful illustrations.

So for one of our first post-lockdown outings with Evie (almost three) and her brother Harry (one), we went to track down the Gruffalo and co in a deep dark wood.

Our deep dark wood was Alice Holt in Hampshire, part of a quarter of a million hectares managed by Forestry England, providing 1,800 miles of walking, running and cycling trails. Nineteen of their forest locations have Gruffalo trails, found all around the country.

Forestry England first partnered with Magic Light Pictures on the Gruffalo back in 2014 and the collaboration has gone from strength to strength, with Gruffalo sculptures, a Gruffalo Spotters trail incorporating an augmented reality app, Gruffalo orienteering and Gruffalo party packs all part of the offer now. Other Julia Donaldson characters have also featured in the trails, such as Stick Man and Superworm.

To make our Gruffalo day into more of an adventure, we stayed in a hotel the night before, which was The Elvetham, about half an hour’s drive from Alice Holt.

Thanks to the hotel’s Victorian Gothic red-brick exterior and manicured floral gardens, The Elvetham is a popular wedding venue. My heart sank a little upon realizing as we checked in that there were indeed nuptials taking place, fearing we’d be disturbed by loud music and the vocals of wedding guests stumbling back to their rooms in the early hours.

But the sprawling layout of the hotel meant our family suite was well away from the action and noise was not an issue after we’d put the children to bed. And I gained a little extra entertainment in the form of some discreet noseying at the wedding outfits while we ate dinner with our children in the conservatory restaurant overlooking the gardens.

Next morning we beat the wedding revellers to the breakfast buffet and were on our way to Alice Holt by 9am, getting in the mood by listening to the story of The Gruffalo on Evie's Toniebox as we drove there in the car. It was a grey, mizzly day and we were able to park near the entrance, but as she gave us a brief overview of the site, Jane Booth, learning assistant at Alice Holt, warned that the car park tends to fill up by 10.30am on sunnier days. Visitor numbers increased 35% across Forestry England sites in the year to April 2021, she added. The overall figure was 296 million visits, some 77 million more than the previous year.

“Covid has been a huge factor in that. Well-being and mental health are so high profile now,” said Jane. “It’s well-recognised that getting out into a forest is good for mental health and we see that with people coming here. Ninety-nine per cent of the UK population live within an hour of a forest so they’re easy to access.”

The forest worked its gentle magic on Evie. Harry is still too young for the Gruffalo, and amused himself by removing his socks as we pushed him along in the buggy. Thankfully, aside from a mild obsession with CBeebies show Bing, Evie hasn’t been sucked into the screens vortex yet, and we’d like it to stay that way, by filling her early years with outdoor play, at beaches, in gardens and in woodland. She’s at an age where that’s easy enough, as she’s willing to walk a fair distance and she’s fascinated with picking up and holding onto nature’s bounty – sticks, sea shells, and stones. Screens will come, we know we can’t keep them at bay forever, but we can throw plenty of distractions in the way.

In addition to being a young stick collector’s paradise, there are two different 1km trails for gruffalo enthusiasts at Alice Holt. The Willows Green Trail has wooden sculptures evenly spread out along the path. A couple of the characters (the mouse and the owl) are suffering early signs of wear and tear and so sadly have been fenced in but the snake, the fox and the gruffalo are still uncaged and little hands can touch them.

It was an easy trail, taking about 40 minutes to walk at a three-year-old’s rambling pace with photo stops at the sculptures. We took our time, inhaling the pure, earthy scent of the woodland, gazing at the infinite shades of green woven into the leafy canopy, and tuning into the bird song that chirruped around us.

After a snack stop, we switched locations to the Gruffalo Spotters Trail, which starts at Go Ape, where older children were exploring the forest from a higher vantage point. The whole scene at Alice Holt was one to cherish, with children scrambling about in playgrounds and riding bikes, families walking dogs, and runners bobbing around in lycra. The site had a very welcoming feel and it was lovely to see a green space being so well used.

The spotters trail has character panels sharing facts about the animals (what does a mouse eat, can you hoot like an owl and so on?) and if you invest £3.50 in a Gruffalo activity pack, you can complete rubbings along the way and other games.

To get the most out of this trail, I’d encourage visitors to download the Forestry Commission’s Gruffalo Spotters app (at home before setting out). When you point your phone at the special markers, the characters come to life through augmented reality and lots of fun can be had getting them to move. For example, we flapped our arms to get the owl’s wings to flutter and stamped our feet to wake the fox up. You can take photos and videos to save to your phone for a memory of the day.

For this reason, this trail took us a little longer and we had worked up an appetite by the time we made it back to the visitor centre and cafe. No Gruffalo crumble or scrambled snake on the menu, but the children’s lunchboxes did the job, offering up a sandwich, a pack of crisps, yoghurt and a juice. We adults opted for jacket potatoes and the cakes looked too good to miss. You have to wear a mask to queue for food inside, but there are plenty of tables outside, where a surprising heart-warming moment occurred as everyone spontaneously joined in singing a round of happy birthday to one bashful-looking chap.

Re-energised by lunch, Evie did a quick circuit of the main playground, which has sturdy wooden structures to climb on, plus slides and swings. We could have spent longer there but the clouds were beginning to look more menacing and by the time we hit the M25 the rain was hammering down.

We unpacked the car in a thunderstorm. British summers eh? After we had dried off and made ourselves a cuppa, we scrolled through the photos we’d taken. It felt like we’d come as close as we could to joining the mouse and the gruffalo in their deep dark wood. A proper mini adventure. And just like the mouse munching on his nut at the end of the story…it was good.

How to do it:

Membership to Alice Holt is £70 for a year or £12 all day at peak times (weekends, bank holidays and school holidays) / £8 off-peak (weekdays, term-time only). There’s no charge if you arrive car-free. The Elvetham starts from £89 for a double room, mid-week.

Five must-have toddler travel items

When travelling with youngsters, it helps to have the right kit, and here are Katherine's recommendations:

Audio stories

One of the ways we’ve avoided having screens in the car for long journeys is by taking a Toniebox with us instead. Toniebox is a wireless audio system that plays a host of children’s classics, from The Gruffalo to Peter Rabbit. Fully charged the Toniebox is good for seven hours of audio, and it’s very robust – it doesn’t matter if you drop it, as we’ve discovered. They can be used with headphones and with no blue light emissions, they don’t interrupt sleep. We often leave ours running at bedtime to help the children drift off (Toniebox £69.95, Tonies [figures that provide the story content] £14.99; tonies.com/en-gb/). Toniebox has partnered with Forestry England to promote the Gruffalo trails this summer.

A fun suitcase

Seeing a child being pulled along on their ride-on Trunki suitcase is a fairly ubiquitous site at airports these days. The classics are Tipu the Tiger Trunki or Harley the Ladybird Trunki, but the latest product is Abbie the Ambulance Trunki, released as a thank you to key workers who have gone above and beyond this year. She was named after a paramedic called Abbie, who was nominated by family and friends. The first of her kind, Abbie is made with Biomaster antibacterial protection, reducing the risk of cross-contamination from harmful bacteria. (£39.99, trunki.co.uk)

Booster seat

High chairs in cafes always feel, well, just a bit icky. Too often it still has food caked on it from previous occupants. So avoid sitting your child in a breeding ground for bacteria, by taking your own seat with you. I find that Brica by Munchkin travel booster seat does the job. It straps on to a chair, wipes clean and folds into a carry bag with handy underseat storage. (£27.55; amazon.co.uk)

Sun protection

When we’re outdoors in summer, I’m fanatical about creaming up the children to avoid any sunburn that could cause them problems later in life. Green People’s organic sun care range avoids the use of harmful chemicals and is designed to protect even the most sensitive skin, as the cream is free from parabens, silicones and synthetic fragrance. It’s also reef safe and non-toxic to marine life. There’s an organic water-resistant children’s sun cream (SP30) that’s scent-free and eczema-friendly (Family sun starter pack £20; greenpeople.co.uk).

Hot wheels

We always throw the scooter in the boot, so we have it to hand if we come across a good trail. Micro make good-quality scooters, made with replaceable parts, so they are built to last. The range also includes balance bikes, trikes, stunt scooters and adult scooters so you can kit the whole family out. The good quality helmet helps me relax as I see my toddler speeding ahead. Scooters come in a range of colours and there’s a Gruffalo design too (Mini Micro Deluxe Gruffalo Scooter £89.95; micro-scooters.co.uk)