Cameron's Cottage
A stay at the cottage is a unique experience, enabling young people to learn invaluable new skills and enjoy an immersive wildlife experience.
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A unique outdoor centre
Cameron’s Cottage is based within RSPB Franchises Lodge nature reserve – a dramatic woodland in the New Forest National Park. It's a unique activity centre designed to help teenagers and young adults to create lasting memories in nature.
We have all the facilities to ensure schools, colleges, universities, and groups can engage with the natural world in exciting and unique ways. Whether it's getting creative through outdoor cooking, tackling the grittier side of nature with survival skills and shelter building or learning conservation skills, visitors are encouraged to make any stay their own.
Day and residential visits
Cameron’s Cottage is a great pace to enjoy the natural world, have fun and relax. The setting of a serene woodland on the edge of the New Forest National Park in a working nature reserve makes a perfect venue for an immersive wildlife experience.
We offer day and residential visits with opportunities to take part in rewarding conservation work that teaches invaluable new skills and get stuck into a wealth of exciting activities.
Find out more about visiting Cameron’s Cottage
Send us an email with your contact details and we will get back in touch to discuss a bespoke package for your group.
Email us at: cameronscottage@rspb.org.uk
Facilities
At Cameron's Cottage, you'll find:
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Sleeping facilities for up to 19 people in four dormitories of varying sizes
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Two accessible rooms – one single and one with four accessible beds
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A fully equipped kitchen and facilities for indoor or outdoor cooking
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Accessible toilets and showers
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Communal areas inside and outside cottage, including outdoor fire pit with logs to sit on
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An outdoor study centre that's ideal for outdoor lessons or to support field study work
How might my stay look?
Monday
Morning: Arrive from 10 am. Site introduction and time to settle
Afternoon: Team building session
5-7 pm: Self-led outdoor cooking session
Evening: Bat walk
Tuesday
All day: Conservation skills
5-7 pm: Self-led outdoor cooking session
Evening: Moth trapping
Wednesday
Before 10 am: Tidy inside and check out
Morning: Bioblitz
Picnic lunch
Afternoon: Self-led walk
Cameron’s legacy
Cameron’s Cottage has been created as a legacy to Cameron Bespolka who died in 2013 aged sixteen. Cameron had a deep passion for nature, which began as a young child and developed further as he got older. Together, the RSPB and Cameron Bespolka Trust want to keep Cameron’s memory alive by encouraging more young people to find the same joy that Cameron found in the outdoors.
How to find us
Location: Franchise Cottage, Telegraph, Redlynch, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP5 2PX Google reference: 50.94875977983864, -1.6667396841258724
Public transport links are limited. The New Forest Tour bus Red Route stops on the B3078 just outside Franchises Lodge reserve. The New Forest Tour
Parking: There is room for a minibus and a car.
Cameron’s Cottage partners
- The Cameron Bespolka Trust
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund
- RSPB
The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for RSPB Sales LTD – Cameron’s Cottage, membership number 5492, and in the event of their insolvency, protection is provided for: • Non-flight packages ABTOT cover provides for a refund in the event you have not yet travelled or repatriation if transportation was included in your package. Please note that bookings made outside the UK are only protected by ABTOT when purchased directly with RSPB Sales LTD – Cameron’s Cottage. In the unlikely event that you require assistance whilst abroad due to our financial failure, please call our 24/7 helpline on 01702 811397 and advise you are a customer of an ABTOT protected travel company.
You can access The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 here:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/634/contents/made.
Find out more about ABTOT here: https://www.abtot.com/
Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. The Cameron’s Cottage project is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to equip the Cottage and develop our ability to deliver engaging and memorable nature experiences for young people. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is the largest funder for the UK’s heritage. Using money raised by National Lottery players they support projects that connect people and communities to heritage. Their vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. From historic buildings, our industrial legacy and the natural environment, to collections, traditions, stories and more. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. The National Lottery Heritage Fund believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past. The National Lottery Heritage Fund: Home
