New Forest

[mac1974]

My DD is really keen to go to the New Forest. She's obsessed with horses and would love to see them in the wild. I'm looking at locations and thinking Brockenhurst looks like a good spot. Any other places to consider? I'd also like to do a day trip to the Isle of Wight whilst we are there.

Currently in Holland park, New Forest - fantastic campsite. Seen about 50 horses and 3 horses have been within 1 meter of our tent. Go for it!

Any open space in new forest has ponies - but please follow the rules on not getting close or feeding them. Lots of foals around at moment.

sandy balls or greenhill are good sites, or red shoot .

Yes, brockenhurst is a nice village with plenty of ponies about. Burley is also nice. Are you looking at a day visit or staying longer?

We would come for a week in the school hols.
Don't worry, we wouldn't get too close to the ponies she would just love to see them in the wild. I'm hoping to find a cottage/chalet type facility rather than camping so just trying to get an idea of the best locations.
We love Dorset so would like to go there for a day too.

I’m going in a few weeks for about the fifth time and did ask for advice on here about going to the IOW. You can go from lymington or Southampton and I think I decided Southampton would be better (they go into different parts of the IOW). Brockenhurst has a train station which may be useful.

on a previous visit we drove through Bournemouth and took the sandbanks ferry to Studland area for a nice beach. Think it was Studland?

when Dd was younger she really loved the New Forest wildlife park, was a great morning out.

@Eve thank you I'll look at all these
@QuebecBagnet thanks I'll check out that village
We are open to a caravan too. We do enjoy camping for a couple of nights but a week in a tent would be too much for DH & his back!

Lyndhurst would be another good base but no ponies in the village centre. The good thing about the new forest though is all the little free car parks dotted about the forest. The Ornamental Drive is a must see and you can park in a car park there and go and do the giant tree walk.

Oh thanks so much for the info. I'll make a note of all these ideas.
We absolutely love sandbanks beach. Had some amazing holidays around that area

I've just found the most beautiful cottage in burley. Looks perfect. I'd never heard of that area so I'll explore it a bit more. Thanks for all these ideas.

Burley is quite a small village ( 1 shop sells great ice cream though) and gets very busy , but easy to get round from there & hopefully A31 will be open again soon which will help traffic.

white buck is a nice pub/restaurant in Burley.

@Eve the A31 works are continuing until November, traffic is horrendous and will only get worse when the school holidays begin, there are some road closures within the forest as well which have been there for months i have no idea what they are doing there though but it does make getting around difficult

The Heavy Horse Centre near Verwood might be of interest too.

Burley is a good base, small village though. Lyndhurst is a small town nearby but still within the park boundaries. There is an old railway line which forms a good level walk, leads to a good tearoom and several narrow streams suitable for paddling nearby.

Beautiful place but a word of warning - there are LOADS of tics in the New Forest.
Take plenty of proper insect repellent, tic remover, alcohol swabs plus antiseptic cream.
Read up on how to correctly remove tics - it’s easy to leave their heads embedded.

Also wear long sleeves and trousers to avoid the tics.

Tara336 -Nov!! Didn’t realise they were due to go on that long ! Summer will not be fun.

@PurpleandPlatinum thank you for the advice. Are tics found in long grass? We have a dog too so would have to be cautious with him.

We travelled to Portsmouth from the New Forest to get the hovercraft over to Ryde for the day. It has a lot to see there if you just want to stay nearby and not take a car over to the IOW. Quite fun too.

I live in the New Forest, albeit the other side from Brockenhurst and Burley.

Summer is absolutely rammed and we avoid Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst, Burley, Beulieu from Easter onwards. They are all a bit twee but that's my "local" prejudice coming out!

I would recommend doing the trip to the Isle of Wight from Lymington because it's such a picturesque trip and you arrive into Yarmouth.

There is a ferry from Lymington to iow.

@Eve I know its already getting bad at weekends I'm dreading the summer, they are also shutting the A31 for 10 minutes at a time a few times a day to move some pillars into place that has caused some tailbacks already

Thanks @Kately are there any other areas you would recommend looking for accommodation? PM me if you don't want to give away all your secrets!

New forest wildlife park
Lepe beach
Calshot spit
Moors valley
Winchester science centre
(Paultons park)

I think if you know what you're letting yourself in for in terms of tourists, crowds and being busy then stick with Burley. It's a proper holiday makers spot. Where we live is much quieter with lots of walks where you can often be out for an hour or two without seeing anyone else. However we are really rural and there aren't shops, restaurants on our doorstep and certainly no deliveroo here! Have a look at Beaulieu, Exbury, Bucklers Hard - they are all down "your" end of the Forest. If you have a car with you then go and explore, alternatively get on one of the New Forest tour buses. My kids used to absolutely love them even though they have lived here all their lives!

And have a look at the New Forest water park. My teens love it and have been going there since it opened.