If you’re looking for a cosy weekend away where you can wander through beautiful ancient forests and make friends with wild ponies, then the New Forest needs to be on your travel list for this autumn.
Recently voted as the UK’s best woodland by GO Outdoors, this charming forest has more than 1000 trees and over 140 miles of tracks and footpaths to get pleasantly lost in.
Founded nearly 1000 years ago by William the Conquerer, the New Forest is a favourite amongst outdoorsy Brits looking for a staycation.
The Forest itself offers stunning scenery with woodlands, lakes and rare birds as well as wild ponies that wander through the trees With a five star rating on Tripadvisor, people who have visited the forest are blown away by it’s jaw dropping beauty.
“It is impossible to sum up the New Forest in a single review,” wrote one traveller.
“It consists of miles of centuries old dense forest and open areas with dry walks and boggy landscapes. You can drive through to gain a sense of the size or walk on tracks that go on for miles. You will mainly be alone apart from the wildlife but occasionally interrupted by school trekking parties and bikes. If you chose a walk at dusk you will be rewarded by seeing deer and ponies”
Another said: “The New Forest is such a beautiful place! The air is fresh and being amongst such large trees and impressive natural landmarks is such a blessing.”
If you get tired of the beautiful walks, then you can nip into The Pig, a charming pub and hotel nestled in the heart of the forest.
The Pig boasts a gorgeous kitchen garden, smoke house, wild flower meadow orchard and chickens as well as a paddock of pigs.
For day trips, then why not stop by the village of Beaulieu? In French, it translates to “beautiful place” and it’s not hard to guess why. It recently was listed in a list of the 30 most desirable villages – and this isn’t the first time it’s been name dropped in a list of aesthetic places either.
Beaulieu is home to the 9,000-acre Beaulieu Estate and its 16th Century high street is filled with artisan shops to wander into, and old-fashioned houses to marvel at.