Does anyone live in/know well Brockenhurst/ the new forest?

[Anewerforest]

Can anyone advise please? We are thinking of moving to a New Forest town/village to be closer to family and be able to do some grandchild care for those living on the edges of South East London.
Reasons for thinking of the New Forest: I have a lung problem and can't cope with traffic pollution, which is high in most of the South East. And we love being near trees and wildlife. As we get older we need to be in walking distance to amenities like shops and GP, and not too far from a hospital.
Any thoughts welcome please. Our budget is around 600K, we'd like a small house or bungalow but fine with a ground floor flat if necessary.

My partner’s family live in East Boldre which is very nice, however I would have a think about the length of the train journey for children realistically. There may be places with the same feel closer to South East London, an hour off the train journey could make a big difference.

I think you will find it tricky without a car as bus services aren’t great. Is it an option? Otherwise look at Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole, as the council ensures good bus services, and has the Beryl bike/electric-bike/e-scooter rental scheme. Highcliffe, Christchurch, Southbourne worth a look.

If you have a railcard and can book advance fares the trains to London are reasonable. Book to travel on the same day and it gets very expensive.

The weather is way better than in the Lake District.

Seems to me that I stayed in Brock for a few nights in an Airbnb.
I kayaked on Beaulieu river, too.

Every garden had to be well gated and fenced to keep the feral animals out who would eat all the plants, trample everything and even damage vehicles directly. I had to know to keep the gates shut, too. The animals could & did stop traffic with regularity. Signs go up warning everyone when the stallions are let out once a year for about 6 weeks. Definitely an interesting place to live.

One of my favourite things is to be held up by wandering animals. Always allow extra travel time through the forest. The ponies, donkeys, cattle, pigs, sheep are NOT feral by the way. They belong to the commoners.

Rarely hear anything good about New Milton nowadays. If you won’t have a car and are obviously retired you will need to factor in walking distances to shops, doctor’s etc and if you need to visit a large hospital such as Southampton or Bournemouth the possible cost of taxis and availability where you choose to live. Also is village life something you want. Moving somewhere completely different you may want to look at what social events etc there are in order to meet people.

Thanks yes we will do all of that. And make several long visits to possible towns and villages. At the moment I am just collecting impressions from people who know the area well. New Milton seems to get mixed reviews.

It’s hard to think about, but imagine what life would be like if you lost your mobility for whatever reason. My parents moved to a New Forest town which was lovely, but when they became more elderly they couldn’t get anywhere without support. They made sure it was on a bus route, and there was a train station less than a mile away. The journey to the bigger hospitals was long, and involved multiple trains/buses/taxis. When I get elderly I am moving into the middle of town!

Don't be put off by mixed reviews, come and see for yourself! The local Facebook pages get easily outraged by very low incidents. Having come from London I always think, you have no idea. It’s pleasant, peaceful, normal.

My best friend lives in New Milton and I worked there for many years.
It’s great.
Lots of shops, on the edge of the forest and the sea.
One very small dodgy part around Marryat Road estate (still nothing at all by London standards) but that happens in any town.

I think it would be very limiting to live in that area without a car. I have only visited the area and we don't have a car, and the public transport was limited (I believe it's better in summer when they have a tourist service). There were places nearby it wasn't practical to visit, except by taxi.

Thank you for these very good points.
We are going to have to compromise quite a bit because the first grandchild is on the way in London and we very much want to be involved at whatever level we can, but I have a lung condition which means I can't spend much time in polluted places, which is why we moved from London to the Lake District in the first place. The New Forest seems like a good compromise in that it is much closer to London but has good air quality.
When we get really old I think we will have to hunker down and spend most of our time very close to home with the help of cleaners and possibly carers, and hope that family will sometimes come out and see us. But it is so beautiful there that it doesn't sound much of a hardship.

I lived in Lymington for a year before buying my current house so I feel I know the New Forest relatively well. The thing that stands out most for me from your post is that you don't drive. I think this is going to be very hard to manage from the areas suggested. There is a butchers and a co-op (small) in Sway but that's it. Similar in Brockenhurst, a few convenience stores and a lot of coffee shops and restaurants (for the tourists). There is a big Waitrose in Lymington though.

Obviously, living in Brockenhurst you would be able to get to Waterloo very easily - from memory its about 90 mins. But I think for any of the other areas you are going to want to drive to the station (Brockenhurst) or go to London via Southampton Parkway.

Also, factor in that the New Forest generally is very very expensive. We were looking in that area 3 years ago and had a healthy budget of 1m but still couldn't find anything.

I lived in Lymington for a year, and yes it was very quiet and calm. However, we moved in on a Friday and on the Saturday night a young lad and two friends were attacked by two guys with a knife outside a social club (you have probably read about it). The young lad died and one of the friends has life limiting injuries. It literally was our first weekend there and we were thinking "what have we done".

Thanks so much, this personal experience is gold dust.
It certainly is an expensive place even for the South East, but we are finding a few small houses and bungalows for 500K - 700K which would suit us.
It does seem that living anywhere without a station is not going to work. Do you think it would be feasible to live in Sway or New Milton in easy walking distance of the station, have a weekly supermarket shop delivered, use the small CoOp the rest of the time for food, and get the train to Lympingon for non-food shopping and eating out etc?

The thing to remember is that Lymington is on a branch line, you need to change trains at Brockenhurst to get there.

Southampton is a fairly short direct journey from
Sway and New Milton if you’re looking for shopping destinations.

Yes you could definitely achieve all the things on your list - I moved to New Milton last year and love it! Feel free to dm me.

There is a bus into Lymington, which also goes to Bournemouth in the other direction, though it takes a long time.

It's a very sociable area too.

Do you want to participate in activities, get to the beach, church, library etc? I would suggest looking at Barton On Sea which is part of New Milton but on the coast. Lots of bungalows. Easy to walk to the beach or NM high street and station.
Where would I live without a car…Christchurch or Southbourne, or Mudeford. This is the local bus company: many more options over towards Bournemouth. https://www.morebus.co.uk/services#map_list