Donald Hiscock | Articles | The Daily Telegraph
Deepest winter is the best time to enjoy the ancient solitude of Hampshire’s New Forest. Just ask the locals. After the summer season crowds have retreated and the leaf peepers have finished crawling through the narrow roads and hogging all the best seats in the tea rooms, the locals decide it is safe to go back into the woods again.
The days might be short and there could be a chilly wind blowing in off the
Solent, but exploring the New Forest this winter will be a good deal more
relaxing than next summer when it becomes Britain’s newest National
Park. Now might just be the best time to get a feel for this thousand year
old forest and its traditions.
Where else do you find a Verderer’s Court to preside over the rights
of commoners, or agisters who administer the welfare of the ponies and cattle
that roam freely? The New Forest retains – in name at least –
a sense of its medieval past when it was established as a royal hunting ground
by William the Conqueror.
Of course, the locals are loath to give away too many secrets about how to
avoid the crowds, but speaking as one of them myself I am happy to pass on
this important piece of advice: get out of the car as soon as you get near
the forest boundary and start to walk. It’s amazing how in just a short
time you can find yourself deep inside an inclosure and feel like you’ve
got the place to yourself. A map is useful, but even the most rudimentary
amble along a track that leads out of a car park will get you into a quietly
enchanted dell. And believe it or not, I’ve seen more deer up close
when less than a hundred yards from a car park than I have in the remotest
parts of the forest.
And it’s not all woodland. There are miles of rolling heathland, especially
good for mountain biking, so long as you keep to the marked routes. Winter
is a good time to feel like you’ve got the place to yourself, especially
if you stock up with maps and information at the visitor centre in the New
Forest’s capital, Lyndhurst.
Lyndhurst abounds in shops, tea rooms, pubs and all standards of accommodation.
Even on a fine Sunday afternoon in winter it can get crowded. A few miles
down the road, Brockenhurst exudes a more up-market air and its main street,
before it gets submerged by a ford, is lined with shops that entice the visitor
to stop and browse. And winter is probably the only time in the year you’ll
be able to find Burley and its tea rooms and gift shops quiet.
The edges of the New Forest have larger towns for neighbours. Ringwood and
Lymington have good shops and a market, while Fordingbridge makes a quieter
base from which to explore the northern end of the new national park. Beaulieu,
with its neat estate village, pond and famous visitor attractions is also
much more agreeable on a winter’s day.
There are frequent road signs warning motorists of the dangers of animals
on the roads. Take it from me, these are best obeyed. Sadly, many animals
are killed each year, so keeping below the mandatory limit of 40mph within
The New Forest makes sense. Deer, ponies, pigs and cattle can wander into
the road without warning.
Activities
Beaulieu Abbey Palace House and the National Motor Museum (01590 612345 www.beaulieu.co.uk)
will fill a day. It’s the biggest attraction in the New Forest but it
does handle crowds well. The attractions are linked and the ticket price includes
entry to all places. Adults £13.50, senior citizens £12.50 youth
£8.00, child £7.00 and families £38.00. Open all year except
Christmas Day, 10-5pm October to April.
Just down the Beaulieu river is Buckler’s hard village where Royal navy
warships were once built. The Buckler’s Hard Story (01590 616203 www.bucklershard.co.uk)
exhibit tells the full history of its maritime past. There are also reconstructed
cottages that give a flavour of the lives of former villagers. Open 11-4.00pm
October to February. Adult £5.25, senior citizen £4.75, youth
£3.75, child £3.75 and families £16.00.
Children might like to spend time at The New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife
Conservation Park at Longdown ( 023 80292408 www.ottersandowls.co.uk). Open
in winter 10 till dusk. Weekends only in January. Adults £6.50, Children
£4.50 and families £19.00.
The new Forest is well suited to cycling. There is a good network of marked
trails and plenty of bike hire outlets. One good base to explore from is Balmer
Lawn near Brockenhurst. Here you can get access to miles of safe routes through
the forest. Balmer Lawn Bike Hire (01590 623133) has prices starting from
£9.00 per day for adults and £6.00 for children.
A good walk on a winter’s day needs a warm hostelry at its end. The
Royal Oak at Fritham (023 80812606) is at the end of a road that leads straight
onto open Forest land. You can follow the trails and be gone for hours. If
you pull on your walking boots in the car park of The Trusty Servant in Minstead
(80812137) you can call in at the unusually designed village church and visit
the grave of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A sturdy walk down to Bolderwood deer
sanctuary will be simply elementary. For a more gentle amble, leave The Oak
Inn at Bank near Lyndhurst (023 8028 2350) and wander along past picture postcard
thatched cottages down the only lane in the tiny village before entering the
forest.
Where to stay
(Prices are for twin/double room and breakfast unless otherwise stated.)
Small bed and breakfast establishments abound, especially in and around Lyndhurst
and other towns. Not all open in winter but those that do often have special
rates.
For that authentic seventeenth century feel the Thatched Cottage (01590 623090
www.thatchedcottage.co.uk) is just an easy walk from the railway station at
Brockenhurst. En-suite rooms, £60 per person, with low ceilings and
some that involve a climb up steep stairs have a cosy cottage appeal. There’s
a restaurant on site and dinner, bed and breakfast is available for £90.
A few miles away in Sway, The Nurse’s Cottage (01590 683402 www.nursescottage.co.uk)
is a restaurant that offers accommodation on the ground floor in the village’s
former District Nurse’s house. Each of its three rooms is named after
one of the nurses. £75 per person including three-course dinner and
afternoon tea on arrival.
Facing open forest on the edge of Lyndhurst the Rufus House Hotel has large,
bright rooms and a spacious dining room (023 80282930 www.rufushotel.co.uk).
You might consider asking for a room overlooking the garden at the back as
the main road outside can be a bit noisy. £25 per person.
At Ashurst, a short walk from a railway station, pubs, restaurants and shops
is The Barn (023 80292531 www.veggiebarn.net). It offers vegetarian and vegan
food in a house that is proud of its environmentally friendly features. £28
per person, with an extra £14 if an evening meal is required. There’s
also a 10% discount for visitors who arrive on foot or by bike.
For the country house experience Whitley Ridge near Brockenhurst (01590 622354
www.whitleyridge.co.uk) is a Georgian building set in its own grounds and
styling itself as a restaurant with rooms. The emphasis is on seclusion and
pampering. Prices start from £110 for a standard double room, with special
halfboard weekend rates also available.
Where to eat
The Herb Pot in Ashurst (023 80293996) is a small bistro that offers three courses for £12, except Saturday. The menus change regularly, using local ingredients whenever possible. If pub grub is preferred then the Happy Cheese (023 80294900), just yards away, offers the traditional standards.
Another place with a choice of visiting a formal restaurant or a village local
for a meal is at Nomansland. The Lamb Inn (01794 390246) and Les Mirabelles
(01794 390205) are neighbours overlooking the green in a village that straddles
the Hampshire/Wiltshire border.
Four miles from Lymington is the East End Arms (01590 626223 www.eastendarms.co.uk),
a village pub that puts an emphasis on food, especially sea food. Menus change
regularly, but dishes such as thick haddock with paremesan and parsnip sauce
or baked scallops with hot spiced coriander puree might feature in the £12
Sunday lunch menu.
Simply le Poussin is tucked away behind a bookshop in Brockenhurst’s
main street but offers French cooking at £15 for three courses, except
Saturday night.
Strictly speaking well out of the New Forest national park but only a ten
minute drive beyond Lymington, Milford-on-Sea hosts several restauarants.
Try La Rouille in the High Street (01590 642340). Not surprisingly, given
its proximity to the coast, this restaurant has a good choice of fish dishes.
Pepper crusted monkfish for £16.50 is one of many choices. Cafes &
Cream Teas
Whether it’s a reward for a calorie-burning hike or simply a potter
around the shops the New Forest is out to catch the unwary with its cream
teas. For guilty pleasures of the jam and scone kind there is no shortage
of choice.
For those who find themselves in Brockenhurst and peckish The Buttery at The
Brock and Bruin on Brookley Road (01590 622958) has attentive service and
a menu that ranges from cakes to grills, with a licence for those who need
something stronger with their food.
Burley has Forest Tea House (01425 402305). Here you can get the traditional
cream tea experience and pick up a flagon of farm cider from the shop at the
back. Accommodation is also available.
There appears to be a café every twenty yards in Lyndhurst. After a
visit to the grave of Alice Liddell – the real-life inspiration for
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland – in the churchyard of St
Michael and All Angels a short hop down the rabbit hole and in you’re
in The Mad Hatter Tea Rooms (023 80282341) For a more continental feel as
an antidote to the sometimes over-the-top old English charm that abounds in
the New Forest’s capital then coffee, baguettes and other French fare
at Le Café Parisien (023 8028 2808) should please.
For a more rural aspect the Old Station Tea House at Holmsley (01425 402468)
can be made to fit a walk that forms part of a disused train line. A filling
afternoon meal of smoked salmon and cucumber sandwiches, scone, cream, cake
and tea can be had for £7.95. On a bright day a mug of tea and a cake
from the kiosk outside will help to soothe aching limbs.
Shopping
All the New Forest towns have shops that entice the visitor to part with their
money. Lyndhurst has more than its fair share of craft shops, including New
Forest Contemporary Art (023 80284772) at the bottom of the High Street and
The China Shop (023 80282326) further up opposite the main car park. There
are also several antique shops in the town.
Ringwood marks the western gateway to The New Forest and is a busy market
town each Wednesday. Ambling around its old streets, look out for Lambert
and Wiltshire (01425 473223) in The Old Market Place, gunsmiths and country
clothing suppliers. For more country accessories there’s Glenn M Hasker
Bespoke Saddlery (01425 476092) in Southampton Road. At the other end of the
shopping spectrum Timber (01425 483505), selling organic clothing and other
goods is tucked away in Star Lane just off The Furlong Shopping Centre.
Brockenhurst, although quite populous, still manages to keep a village feel
to its main street, Brookley Road. Bestsellers Bookshop (01590 622327) keeps
a good stock of new titles and local guides, and browsing is encouraged. It
rubs shoulders with some good shops for upmarket gifts, including Clare Rose
Interiors (01590 623977) and Antiquiteas (01590 622120 www.antiquiteas.co.uk).
Beaulieu has a strollable main street for eager shoppers. Look out for Kristen
Pottery (01590 612064) that makes handmade tiles and Beaulieu Chocolate (01590
612279) for handmade confectionery.
Lymington has a busy and popular Saturday market that lines the sloping High
Street. In addition there are numerous clothes shops, many catering for the
local yachting crowd. The town is a good place to spend time, particularly
down by the harbour. It also has a car ferry connection with Yarmouth on the
Isle of Wight.
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