Designated on 1 March 2005
The New Forest is both younger and older than the other National Parks. Protected by royal decree since the 11th century, its heritage as common land made it more of a working landscape than a wilderness. When it was finally designated as a National Park in 2005, nothing was lost and much was gained, with its forests and culture secured for generations to come.
In this guide, we offer you a few ideas on where to go and what to see, from beacons of maritime history and ancestral homes to rare fungi, woodlands where ponies wander and pastures full of majestic herds of deer.
Start/endpoints: The Royal Oak (Fritham) or the Lamb Inn (Nomansland)
Start/endpoints: The Royal Oak (Fritham) or the Lamb Inn (Nomansland)
Distance: 6mi, elevation: N/a, difficulty rating: 2/5
Start/endpoints: The Royal Oak (Fritham) or the Lamb Inn (Nomansland)
There are pubs at both ends of this out-and-back route (three miles each way), so you don’t need to worry about working out where to start, finish or linger too long over lunch. It was initially established as the road to and from a Victorian gunpowder factory, for which Eyeworth Pond, which you’ll see as you go, was dug to supply water. It’s a gentle ramble through woods and heath, with the only potential difficulty being some stretches that can get a little boggy, although there’s always an alternate path.
Start/endpoints: Lyndhurst or Brockenhurst!
Start/endpoints: Lyndhurst or Brockenhurst!
Distance: 10mi, elevation: 940ft, difficulty rating: 3 / 5
Start/endpoints: Lyndhurst or Brockenhurst!
There’s a good chance you’ll end up in one of the Park’s two main villages, Lyndhurst or Brockenhurst, while you’re in the New Forest, so you can pick up this rewarding loop to make a day of your visit. There’s some moderate climbing but this is hardly a mountain scramble, as you wander almost entirely on flat paths through the forest. Along the way you’ll be tempted by stops at ‘Brockenhurst Beach’ and Bolderford Bridge, both popular swimming spots where the river is broad and shallow, as well getting a good view of The King’s House, the historic seat of power in the New Forest, from which the Court of Verderers administer the rights of the commoners permitted to use the land for grazing. Another curiosity is the grave of Mrs Reginald Hargreaves at the Church of St Michael. Born Alice Lidell, she was the inspiration for the most famous creation of family friend Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll.
Start/endpoints: Whitefield Moor car park
Start/endpoints: Whitefield Moor car park
Distance: 1.5mi, Elevation: 105ft, Difficulty rating 1/ 5
Start/endpoints: Whitefield Moor car park
This easy and accessible loop is less a walk and more a pleasant way to get out in the fresh air for a bit. The path takes you up one side of Ober Water and back down the other, crossing on plank bridges at either end. The low and level wetland area can get a bit muddy if the weather’s been bad but it also provides an important wildlife habitat. Birders should definitely bring the binoculars, while kids can get down on the bridge crossings and watch for frogs, fish and all manner of bugs and beasties. For more outdoor time, you can pair it with a visit to Blackwater Arboretum to the north, before heading back into Brockenhurst for lunch.
Start/endpoints: Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve
Start/endpoints: Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve
Distance: 9mi, Elevation: 1,300ft , Difficulty rating 3/ 5
Start/endpoints: Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve
This is a walk to think carefully about the timing of. At any time of year, it’s a pleasantly exerting hike, with some stunning views across the hills of the park to take in while you catch your breath. If you go in late summer though, you’ll be walking, at times, through striking fields of waving pink and purple heathers, with ponies wandering in the rosy sea of flowers. There are various routes that can extend or shorten the loop, but on many of them you’ll pass a curious octagonal wall, the remains of a “Huff Duff” (High Frequency Direction Finding) Station, part of a network which broadcast homing signals for aircraft returning to England in WWII.
Start/endpoints: Beaulieu
Start/endpoints: Beaulieu
Distance: 4mi, Elevation: N/a, Difficulty rating 1.5/ 5
Start/endpoints: Beaulieu
Pretty much all of Beaulieu is Montagu country and has been since the 1500s. Their estate now houses the famous Motor Museum and Palace House, the family home, is so grand a dwelling that you have to squint to imagine its origins as the estate’s gatehouse. You’ll see the Montagu crest, three red diamonds, on plenty of other buildings too. While you might be tempted not to leave the village at all, give liberty unto thine eyes and examine other beauties, on a delightful riverside walk taking you along the banks of the tidal stretch of the Beaulieu River. It’s great for birders and no less historic than the village, as you end up in the famous shipbuilding village of Buckler’s Hard, which was briefly renamed Montagu Town in the 1700s, but reverted to its original name once the ambitious 2nd Duke Of Montagu’s plan to use it a trading port collapsed.
Start/endpoints: Lepe Country Park
Start/endpoints: Lepe Country Park
Distance: 5mi, Elevation: 200ft, Difficulty rating: 2/ 5
Start/endpoints: Lepe Country Park
Many people aren’t even aware that The New Forest runs right down to the sea but its short coastal stretch is well worth a look. From Lepe Country Park, a simple loop leads west along the base of the foot of the cliffs, with a choice to be made between the low tide route and the high tide route when the path peters out into the sand. You’ll see coastal defences from WWII, pass through a local nature reserve and be tempted into a stop by a café with fine views of the Solent.
© Lauren SimmondsDid you know?
The New Forest is, in a way, the oldest national park, having been known by linguistic variations on its name since it was recorded as Nova Foresta in the Domesday Book in 1086.
The stone that marks the spot where Tyrrell supposedly shot William II is just a few steps from the pub named in his honour. From the garden you can eat “simple, seasonal, well made” food and watch the New Forest ponies graze in the field across the road.
The thatched cottage that houses Furzey Tea Rooms is a marvel of careful maintenance, as are the rest of the beautiful gardens that surround it. Visits to both support work experience and opportunities for people with learning difficulties, so you’re not just eating cake, you’re contributing to a noble cause.
You’ll find the Huntsman on the main road through Brockenhurst, looking the big, welcoming tavern it has to travellers for many years. It’s a lively local, right at the heart of town and just a few minutes’ walk from the station, so a great base for a New Forest adventure.
Painstakingly restored over a considerable period, this 16th century inn just south of Brockenhurst is now a gleaming haven of roaring fires and cosy nooks. You can work up an appetite with a circular walk out to Roydon Woods Nature Reserve.
You might think all garden centre cafés are just a convenient break from wandering in and out of piles of plant pots but Steff’s, at the heart of Fairweather’s Garden Centre in Beaulieu, is worth visiting on its own merit. There are superb cakes and coffee, as well as breakfasts and takeaway sandwiches that’ll keep you going for the full day that exploring Beaulieu will give you.
In the 19th century, passengers stopping at this old coaching inn in Lyndhurst were welcomed by a dancing local known for obvious reasons as “Silly Jack”. These days the welcome is just as friendly but slightly less bizarre and the inn is not at all a silly choice for a few days.
© Andrei StancescuDid you know?
An author whose genius was evident in the long downstrokes of his handwriting, the wax in his moustache and the way he wore his pocket watch, is buried in Minstead Church near Lyndhurst. We’ll let you deduce who.
Whilst it was only designated as a National Park in 2005, the history of the area stretches back centuries, to when William the Conqueror claimed it as a deer hunting ground, despite the fact that a lot of people lived and farmed there already. Remarkably, he recognised their right to continue doing so and instituted what remains to this day one of the most curious things about the New Forest – its use as common land. Locals known as Commoners, who have a right to graze animals in the New Forest, are still overseen by Verderers and Agisters, in a system which has evolved over the centuries while retaining much of its pleasantly archaic terminology.
Pannage is still practiced, with the timely release of pigs to eat mast (fallen acorns) helping protect animals to whom the nuts are poisonous, but in the interests of modernity, estovers has been heavily amended and turbary and marl have been abandoned (rights to firewood, clay and peat, in case you just had to know).
Commoning is a vital part of the ecosystem, with the ponies often called the “architects of The New Forest” for the way they keep the undergrowth under control. The way land is shared, enjoyed and maintained by farmers, landowners and travellers offers an old but somehow innovative model of how green spaces can be for everyone. Not a bad minor subplot to the legacy of a guy who just wanted to shoot deer.
© Rose O'NeillDid you know?
If you’re experiencing lashings of deja vu as you wander around The New Forest, it might be because the iconic 70s TV adaption of The Famous Five was filmed in multiple locations around the park.
Base yourself in the Sir Walter Tyrrell and stroll over to touch the Rufus Stone on the night you arrive before enjoying a few quiet days of easy wanders in the New Forest. Stroll the Bolderwood Deer Watch Trail and stop for a picnic as you look out on herds of the animals for whom the whole park was created, although it was very much a mixed blessing for the deer themselves. On a more energetic day, take the walk from Fritham to Nomansland and see some of the park’s more modern history on the old gunpowder road. Round it all off by dropping into Furzey Gardens for morning coffee before you head home and supporting a good cause by eating cake.
Spend a few days completely car free, from start to finish, buzzing down the cycle paths and walking the woods. Arrive at Brockenhurst station, then make the short walk into the village and find The Huntsman for dinner, bed and breakfast. Take a day to walk the Lyndhurst - Brockenhurst loop, giving you plenty of time for stops along the way. The next morning, hire an e-bike from the village and whizz down to Roydon Woods to roll along in the shade of the trees, or further, to The Filly Inn for lunch, or even further to the New Forest Distillery, although gin making and cycling don’t famously pair well.
From a Beaulieu base, you have plenty of options which you could pack into a couple of days or expand into a longer, slower visit. Steff’s Kitchen at Fairweather’s Garden Centre is a great place for breakfast and puts you almost on the trail to Buckler’s Hard, with a four-mile walk taking you down to the maritime museum and the site where Nelson’s navy was built. On another day, you could head north from the garden centre and tour Beaulieu itself, from the National Motor Museum and Palace House to the old streets of the historic village. If you have time, head through Beaulieu and come down the other side of the river, to walk the Lepe Loop along the New Forest’s coastline and do some birding in Lymington and Keyhaven Marshes Nature Reserve.
We held an event in Westminster this week to discuss our recent report on National Park Authority governance with Mary Creagh, the Minister for Nature.
We’ve launched our new report ‘Leading National Parks into the Future: Modernising National Park Authority Governance’.
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