Eastleigh Lakeside Steam Railway

We visited here for my dogs 7th birthday as she really loves trains and she loved it there. they have loads of parking space including a car park right next to the cafe and train station with disabled spaces. The miniature train runs regularly and costs around £4 for an adult ticket with dogs travelling free. It is a miniature train and thus space is minimal. We had two medium sized dogs who were pretty much the width of the train. You have the option of a covered mini carriage that fits two people, facing opposite ways with a small foot space or an open top, longer carriage that fits a lot more people and is one long bench that you straddle to sit on. I have mobility issues and stepping on and off was a little awkward but not awkward enough to need help.

It does have a stop further around the park where you can get off and have a picnic and take the train again later however the stop was closed due to Covid when we went. The trip is a good 10 minutes+ in it's entirety and goes past animal fields and rivers/ponds which provided lots of good sniffing for the fur-kids. The only part that our dogs didn't like was going through the tunnel. It's fairly long and is pitch black, I'm not exaggerating - I couldn't see the dog I had in my lap! Naturally you could smell the smoke from the train and I presume that coupled with being in complete darkness is what scared them but as soon as we got out the other side both were quite happy again. Our dog, Darcy, got very excited every time they blew the whistle on the train and was wagging her tail the whole time. When we were in the park later on foot, she would go and watch the train pass every time.

They do have a dog friendly cafe too however we didn't go in as we had our own lunches with us. There are good quality gravel paths around the park as well as some dirt paths too that get pretty muddy and waterlogged in wet weather. The paths are clearly marked with coloured signs for where dogs can be off lead and they also have maps in places that also state where dogs can be off lead. There are swans, geese and ducks around the lakes as well as cows in fields too so it's important to keep an eye out if your dog is one who likes to explore.

Overall we had a really good day out despite the weather being a little grey and overcast and had two very tired dogs who slept the entire way home. I do recommend taking a few towels if it has been raining as ours got back quite muddy at the end of it all!