New Forest

New Forest Holiday and Tourism Information
 

Hampshire’s splendid New Forest stretches for a mere 140 square miles, or 18,000 hectares, yet it is internationally significant as one of the largest areas of wildlife-rich heathland in Europe.   Now protected as a national park, this comparatively small area contains important tracts of woodland, picturesque river valleys and numerous countryside villages, all standing in stark contrast to the region’s few modern conurbations.

The Forest has been shaped since prehistory by the intervention of man and his grazing animals and possesses a wealth of rare creatures. These range from the pearl fritillary butterfly to the honey buzzard, 13 species of native bat, the poisonous adder and the huge stag beetle. Incredibly, the place even has pine martens and - rarest of all - Britain’s only cicada.

The New Forest occupies land between the River Avon and Southampton Water, with the main towns including Brockenhurst and its picturesque ‘capital’, Lyndhurst. It attracts an astonishing eight million visitors each year, many of whom are drawn to it by a timeless, bucolic charm.

Although the Forest dates back for many centuries, it was the arrival of the Normans and William the Conqueror that had most impact in the recent past.

The area was requisitioned in 1079 by the deer-hunting King William who exploited it as a royal game reserve and invented brutal punishments for peasants foolish enough to ‘steal’ his quarry.

His own son, William 11, met an untimely death here while hunting. He was felled by an arrow as part of an assassination plot dreamed up by his ambitious brother, the future Henry 1. An obelisk marks the fateful spot.

The Forest is still administered by the order of Verderers while even today the inhabitants enjoy five ancient privileges - estover, or the right to cut firewood; marl, or the right to improve the soil; pannage, or the right to let pigs forage; pasturage, the right to graze livestock, and turbary, the right to cut turf.

Many deer roam freely among the oak, beech and conifer woods (watch them from platforms at the Bolderwood Walks), as do wild New Forest ponies. The latter are thought to be descendants of a herd left behind by Spaniards after the Armada.

For several hundreds years the forest was a crucial source of timber and at the village of Buckler’s Hard ships were built for Lord Nelson. Some old trees survive such as the 400-year-old Knightwood Tree, which can be seen on the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive. Elsewhere are giant redwoods and firs.

Away from Mother Nature, the Forest has much to offer in the guise of castles, monasteries, cider making, gardens and museums.

Few museums are as important as the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, a veritable cornucopia of motor cars, motorbikes, commercial vehicles and motoring memorabilia. The vehicles range from some early cars to the legendary ‘Bluebird’.

Gardens include Exbury Gardens – a blaze of azaleas and rhododendrons - and Furzey Gardens, located in the thatched village of Minstead.

Among the great houses is ‘Broadlands’ on the banks of the River Test, one of England’s finest pieces of mid-Georgian architecture. Its stunning landscape was created by ‘Capability’ Brown and, in recent times, it was owned by Lord Mounbatten. The Mountbatten Exhibition is situated in its stables.

The magnificent Elizabethan Breamore House, near Fordingbridge, is also set in beautiful parkland and was built in the late 16th century. It contains works of art, furniture, porcelain and rare tapestries. The Breamore Countryside Museum has a remarkable collection of steam-powered farm machinery and historical tools.

Local abbeys include Beaulieu - founded in 1204 by Cistercian monks – which boasts an exhibition of monastic life in the Middle Ages, and the huge Norman abbey of Romsey, which dominates the town.

Henry Vlll built two castles close to the seashore as part of a chain of coastal defences. Hurst Castle briefly held Charles I in 1648 while Calshot Castle lies on a shingle spit near the mouth of Southampton Water.

Sightseeing is not the only joy here. Buckler’s Hard, for example, is a boating centre on the Beaulieu River. The rest of the New Forest is a paradise for walkers, cyclists and, of course, anglers.

From this page you can follow the links to New Forest holiday accommodation, activities, attractions, historic sites, travel information, and general tourism info for the area.

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