48 hours admiring the views at Tapnell Farm

​I have few vices in life but I am guilty of spending far too long in the shower. Whole wars have been fought and governments have fallen in the time it takes me to carry out my daily ablutions. I missed the opening game of France '98 because my parents installed a new Mira 2000 Power Shower.

And so, I was sold on the accommodation at Tapnell Farm when I discovered that the shower in our log cabin was in the Premier League of such things. I think I was expecting one of those mouldy electric boxes on the wall that is akin to being urinated on by a horse. It was more like a steady torrent of warm water. I could have stayed in there all day, and I would have done if my wife hadn't banged on the door repeatedly. 

Anyway, to back track a little, a friend invited us to spend a couple of days trying out the Glamping accommodation at Tapnell Farm recently and we went for the log cabin. They also have Safari Tents (Tom's Eco Lodges) and some pod type things but The Practical One (Mrs Guru) persuaded me that a log cabin would be better since it offered windows which could be blacked out for the little one, and a microwave for heating porridge. 

My general conclusion whenever we've stayed in good quality self catering accommodation is that our own house has got far too much stuff in it. The log cabin had everything we needed (including wifi) without all the stuff we could cope without for a few days (a TV).

And the whole site has clearly been carefully curated, with neat little touches like an 'Honesty Shed' full of unmanned groceries and games and a caravan full of chickens which dispense eggs for your breakfast. 

During our short stay we also made the most of being on the site of Tapnell Farm Park which currently has indoor play but will soon also have a petting zoo and other animals which have been adopted from Seaview Wildlife Encounter.

We ran out of good weather by our final evening, meaning that the view from our cabin of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival site at Afton was slightly misty, but still pretty stunning. So we sat in the lounge, peered out the window and drank a non-alcoholic beer. Good times.