Our beloved pug, Puggy Smalls has been the goodest boy this year, so to celebrate his 9th birthday, we took him for a very special treat courtesy of Away Resorts.

As some of you may know, we have stayed with Away Resorts at various locations multiple times, and its firmly one of our favourite places to escape with our pack of dogs. So, we were thrilled to head back to Sandy Balls in the stunning New Forest this Summer, for a birthday Puggy won’t ever forget! Check out our blog all about the dog friendly Knightswood cabins!

The entire venue is just as gorgeous as we remember, bustling with families, friends and couples having the time of their lives exploring the stunning surroundings and making the most of the ample activities.

Puggy wore his extra special birthday hat and so many people stopped for a photo and to give him some birthday cuddles!

Puggy started his birthday with a walk in his wheelchair through the woodlands towards the heart shaped bench which frames the incredible views of the New Forest Countryside. Of course, he invited a few guests along, including Pops, the dachshund love of his life and Uncle Alex, who is quite possibly one of his favourite people on earth.

We then stopped by to pay a visit to his Alpaca friends who he remembered so fondly from his Alpaca walk in February earlier this year.

After Puggy and his party guests built up a huge appetite, it was time for the main event, a fabulous dog friendly birthday lunch at Aubrey’s on-site restaurant!

The staff, as always were simply perfect and treated Puggy like the superstar he is from the moment we arrived. We settled into our super comfy corner booth where Puggy and Pops were presented with their very own Doggy menu to choose from!

Puggy and Pops chose a three-course meal, consisting of a drink, a main meal and a desert and it was epic.

Of course, us humans got to tuck into the delicious lunch menu along with some drinks while we celebrated our perfect pooch turning 9 in style!

Puggy and Pops chose both wet and dry dog meals and shared. Naturo turkey and rice wet food, topped with a little crunch courtesy of Harringtons lamb dry biscuits – perfect! They gobbled it all down in no time and washed it down with a bottom sniffer doggy beer and some posh pooch rose wine for queen Pops of course!

The staff played along and wished Puggy a happy birthday with heaps of fuss and party decorations. We had an absolute blast and I’m sure passers-by enjoyed the spectacle too!

After all pooches and humans finished their tasty meals, we headed outside to enjoy their desert al fresco. There were two options on the menu, Jude’s ice cream for dogs and paw pops doggy ice poles! Both pooches love ice cream, so they each gobbled down a tub of Jude’s in record time, which was the perfect way to help them stay cool in the August sun.

As Puggy’s Alpaca friends weren’t allowed to party with him in restaurant, we swung by one last time to see them before heading home with two very happy, fulfilled doggies.

Thanks again to Away resorts for giving us a beautiful, fun core memory with our pooches that we will treasure forever.

For 10% off Away resort bookings use code PUGDOG10 and we strongly recommend you take your dog to sample the very affordable doggy menu!