Discovering the New Forest (and wondering what happened to the Old Forest..)
With little idea what we were driving into, we set off from Bournemouth, England on the last day of our weekend away to find out why all the locals were raving about the ‘New Forest’.
To my surprise, the New Forest isn’t actually new. It has a history dating back to 1079AD, when King William 1 dedicated it as a royal hunting ground. And better yet – its filled with about FOUR THOUSAND PONIES.
It also turns out, that the New Forest ain’t that small. It’s a 571 km² national park, filled with loads of little towns. Within five minutes of jumping on the highway, we saw our first pony. It was relaxing in a car park looking at two bus drivers with an unbreakable gaze. We can only assume it thought the drivers were smuggling apples and other horse treats in their bus!
Witches, smugglers & tea rooms…
Our first town on the list was Burley – an old village town about 3,500 years old, with a rich history in witches and smugglers. And it’s time to queue the Outlander music because rumour has it there are some witches still practicing there today.
We started our morning off with breakfast at a gorgeous spot with outdoor seating called The Old Station Tea Rooms. It was a quaint setting with lovely service and, you guessed it, gluten-free! They even had gluten-free bread on hand, rather than just altering & removing pieces of the dish.
The town itself is small but cute to walk around in. There’s a handful of witchcraft shops and the chance to see a clairvoyant, which we saw a lot of people sign up to do.
The royal capital…
After Burley, we headed on to Lyndhurst. It’s been the capital of The New Forest since William the Conqueror named the area a royal hunting ground in 1079.
It’s easy to get caught up on your way to the high road here as there’s just so many horses (and even a couple of donkeys) hanging about.
The high street is clean and sheik, and you can even find a chain store or two here, including the UK coffee chain, Costa.
There were more stores to ponder in and out of than Burley, and also a pub that looks like it could light up at night. But I’m only making this assumption based on how many kebab shops there are hovering around it.
We spotted this cute tea room, where I grabbed a cold smoothie to cool down from the hot day. There were a few other gluten-free options at this cafe too. 😉
Ironically enough, we spotted some Ferrari shops and Mazzarati shops in the middle of this forestry city, so there’s quite a bit of wealth behind this area!
We’ll definitely be heading back to The New Forest to enjoy the ton of activities on offer, from horse-riding to zip-lining and water sports! Find out more about the activities on offer here.
Have you been to the New Forest? Let me know what your favourite part was in the comments below!
