I recently visited Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve in Ashford, which I booked for my finances 30th birthday celebrations. Port Lympne is an animal reserve. With being pregnant, I opted to book him something relaxing and chill for us to do. I always like to find something a bit different and quirky. So when I found this online I thought it was perfect, there is so many different rooms you can book and so I opted for “The Bubble”
With this booking we got a golf buggy included in our stay to drive around the park and also got the Safari Ride included.
When we arrived, we went straight on a safari ride and saw the animals that they have.. the thing I like about this reserve is that they release many animals back into the wild. We saw a range of animals, from Rhino’s, Deer, Pigs, Ostriches, Giraffes and so on…
Throughout the safari they tell you about the different animals, stories about them, there journey/time at the reserve etc. So it’s a really interesting ride, where you get a feel of the place and the animals.
After the Safari (which runs every so often, so you can opt to do again) we went for a walk around the park…it was really nice, quiet and relaxing. The grounds are quite big. We also found a maze, so we gave that ago too!
On our walk we saw a lot of monkeys and gorillas which was really cool! And a dinosaur park, with dinosaur figures etc (perfect for kids!
After walking around for a good while, we stopped at a little on-site cafe and had some food and then headed to check into our Bubble! We was taken in a safari style truck to where our accommodation was based, where there was also a pop up/tent style bar/lounge…where we received welcome drinks of prosecco (OJ for me!) and we toasted smores! Which was really quirky, as I hadn’t actually done that before. The welcome drinks & fire..was a nice little touch!
After our drinks & smores, we was given our keys to the room…we had to walk up a quite a few steps to get to the bubble which is situated in the middle of the tree’s…not far from us was a couple of tree house rooms…and with the bubble being completely see through, we was a bit apprehensive how we would hide our modesty! But you are provided the old school style screens, and once its dark, you really can’t see a thing in!
The decor/vibe of the Bubble was absolutely dreamy and so aseptically pleasing! (Like I really want to re-create this look on my bedroom!) It was a bit chilly inside, and took a while for the heating to kick in , but we never actually asked about this…so we may have actually been doing something wrong! The bubble also has a shower/toilet bathroom area that you unzip to get into which was funky! But for the views and Instagram pic opportunity we opted for the bath!
The room was relaxing and very “zen” .. to be honest you could literally just sit in there and relax and not leave! I know this is a place where you embrace nature, but a TV would be perfect for when you just want to be chilled and lazy!
We decided to head to one of the on-site restaurants for some dinner and took our golf buggy to get there..and went for a ride in the buggy around the park. We didn’t massively rate the restaurant, it was very overpriced and the food wasn’t great!
Being tired from walking around all day we had quite an early night….we happened to stay on the most windiest /storm night which was quite an experience! The moment the lights are out, you can’t see the plastic of the bubble and you literally feel like you are laying bare under the tree’s! The whole bubble was shaking, the trees were swaying, things in the room was falling over. It wasn’t the best night sleep I’ve had…..but you can’t help the weather eh!
We didn’t have to check out until 1pm and could use the safari/buggy until then but we had breakfast and left early as we had to be back.
My overall thought on our stay, was that it was nice and an experience..but one I wouldn’t do again. I imagine its much better in the summer and with kids. It can be quite boring once you’ve walked around and seen everything that is there. I didn’t actually see all the animals that was advertised on the website. It is quite overpriced…with a can of Pepsi costing £3! So be prepared in advance before you visit.
Like I said though, it is an experience…and we can say we’ve slept in a bubble! I would recommend but only for one night.
