New Forest lunch recommendations please!

[Pinotpleasure]

My dear friend is flying in on a red-eye from New York to London Heathrow in a couple of weeks (arriving early morning on 31st August). One of her friends will pick her up and then they will stay at my house on the west Dorset coast.

She was asking for a good place to stop off for a rest break and lunch and I’m thinking of somewhere in the New Forest and I can drive up and meet them too, then they can follow me home.

Can anyone recommend some nice (impressive but not costing $$$$$ - places for lunch where you don’t have to dress up to the nines, considering she will be in casual wear for a flight?). I want her to have a good impression of England even if the weather may be rubbish! She is excited at the thought of seeing some of the wild NF ponies and cattle. Hopefully lunch would be somewhere not too far away from the A31 as would prefer to avoid driving through the Bournemouth/Poole conurbation.

Thank you!

White Buck in Burley. Burley is cute, lots of NF ponies etc.
Burley Manor Hotel. Not eaten there, but looks lovely.

The Jetty in Christchurch is really good. Excellent food and on the expensive end but not ridiculous. If you come off the A31 at stoney Cross, it's a gorgeous drive and almost certain to see ponies. The restaurant overlooks the sea at Mudeford.

www.thejetty.co.uk/

Or for something cheaper, we had a really excellent meal at the Three Legged Cross, which is more of a standard country pub but the food was certainly better than pub grub (things like roast pork belly, confit duck, sea bass) and very easy access from A31. The puddings were really really good and its probably more traditional English food if that's what she would like to experience.

www.vintageinn.co.uk/restaurants/south-west/thethreeleggedcrossverwood

The New Forest pub just outside Ashurst has locally focussed menu, very nice garden for eating and a stile into adjacent field that’s usually full of ponies. Might be a bit far off the A31 but is easy to find on A35.

@saggybaps - thank you for your recommendation. We went to the White Buck in Burley for lunch and it was perfect! My friend loved it and I will definitely return with family when all the Christmas decorations are up!

Prior to that we went to The Buttery in Brockenhurst and she enjoyed a cream tea with scones, jam and clotted cream.....and obviously impressed with the natural taste of the cream compared to the horrible American sweetened/preserved cream. :)

My friend also enjoyed a fish & chip supper, Cornish pasty and organic wine from the vineyard close to my house (and we got a tour of the vineyard too!) www.littlewaddonvineyard.co.uk