Weekend Away: The New Forest
Dr Johnson might have said that when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life – but sometimes the city does get just that bit too busy, too frenetic, too much, really, and you want to head for the country to wind down.
The natural beauty of the New Forest
The New Forest is not a day trip for Londoners – it’s just that little bit too far – but it makes a great weekend destination. And despite its name, it’s not just trees that you can see there. In fact, the word ‘forest’ in its medieval use doesn’t mean a place full of trees – it referred to the king’s hunting grounds, which included open heathland as well as woods. And though today the New Forest includes vast tracts of wooded land, you’ll also find much more open countryside, its gentle hills and heath making it a great destination for hikers.
William the Conqueror first created the New Forest as a deer park – Domesday Book calls it ‘nova foresta’, though it was only its royal status that was new, not the landscape. (You could see the Norman creation of royal forests as sheer theft from the existing Saxon landholders – in which case William II’s death from an ‘accidentally’ mistargeted arrow while hunting here in the New Forest looks like an instance of poetic justice.)
A whole infrastructure of abstruse legal terms – such as levancy, couchancy, pannage and turbary – dictates who can graze what animals where in the forest or take peat or fuel wood, and these rights are policed by verderers and agisters.
You may not come across a verderer, but you’ll see the sturdy little New Forest ponies roaming through the forest, as well as donkeys and cattle. Their grazing protects the open nature of much of the forest. You’ll also probably see ponies in many of the villages – they quite often try to get into shops and pubs, too – though the forest deer are shyer and less easy to find.
The local villages and towns are well worth a visit – for instance there’s Lymington – a delightful Georgian seaside town – and Lyndhurst where the original ‘Alice in Wonderland’ lived when she grew up (and is buried in the churchyard). Bucklers Hard was a major dockyard for the British Navy back in Nelson’s day; now, it’s a charming village with a quiet marina.
There are also some unusual attractions. Exbury Gardens has a one foot gauge steam railway, and for petrolheads the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu is a must.
In summer, one of the best ways to see the New Forest is to take the New Forest Tour bus on its circular route, joining it from Brockenhurst or Lymington railway station. You can even take your bike on the bus (each bus has four bike places).
I personally don’t rate the New Forest as the most stunning landscape in the south – I’d always rather head for the more challenging South Downs, or further into the South-West (but then, that’s really a longer trip than you can do in a weekend). But for a gentle stroll – particularly for families with one keen hiker and, shall we say, slightly less eager walkers – the New Forest has huge charms. And the whole mix – ponies, landscape, villages, sea – is quite unique.
Photo by David G Steadman on flickr
