Wish I was there (New Forest)

Member Name: thecatsnose

Product:	New Forest
Date:	05/06/09 (57 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful part of the world

Disadvantages: None

Mr thecatsnose and I have just returned from our summer holiday, a wonderful week in the New Forest. This is the first time that we have holidayed in England and we enjoyed it so much that we wouldn't hesitate to do it again. In fact when I have finished this review I am going to have a peek and see how much it will cost for next year:)

The Journey
The New Forest is down near Southampton way, and it took us a respectable 4.5 hours to get there by car from Manchester. The journey wasn't too bad, not for me anyway - I was in the passenger seat!

The Accommodation
We hired a cottage via www.newforestliving.co.uk in Sway, which we found was well located to enable us to get around to the other towns and villages in the area. It was wonderfully quiet, not a car alarm in earshot - and a 200 foot long private garden - bliss! There are a range of cottages on the website, 'ours' cost £430 for the week for a 3 bed cottage that could sleep 5 people (and one dog too if you like). You pay per cottage not per person.

What we did
We had glorious weather, so we did quite a bit of sunbathing in clothes that we wouldn't dare wear in our own back garden, in addition to that we managed to visit:-

Brockenhurst - for a general stroll around on a lazy day, and also to catch the train into Lymington. Brockenhurst has a good station that is well connected for the surrounding area.

Beaulieu - it is famous for its Motor Museum, but unfortunately we didn't have time to go there - maybe next time! A lovely little village though, of the chocolate box variety.

Lymington - we visited the street market which is held on a Saturday - fab, and had a wander down to the docks. You can also get a ferry to the Isle of Wight from here - again something to add to the list for next time for us.

Milford on Sea - we had a whole section of pebble beach to ourselves, then had fish and chips in the local pub.

Monkey World - Though that is in Dorset, not the New Forest, but we thought while we were down there we might as well go see.

All of the little villages that we saw were lovely, all had gorgeous scenery and surroundings and lovely cottages. It was nice just to go and have a wander around.

The Ponies
There are Ponies and Cattle on most grass verges, and sometimes in the road, so it is important to have your wits about you when you are driving just in case. The animals are there just to be looked at, not touched, because they are wild and if one decides to give you a kick you would know about it! - that said if you don't bother them they wont bother you. The ponies and cattle have right of way on the country lanes and I loved seeing traffic stopped to find there was a mare and her foal trotting down the lane in front! The best thing I saw was a rather nervous looking lollypop man with 2 humongous horned beasts behind him - I wish I had got a photo of that!

Other Things
There are lots of things to see and do including walking, bike riding, horse riding, water sports to name but a few, you can be as active or relaxed as you like. We were lucky because we had fab weather, but that didn't make the holiday - the place did. We would have enjoyed it just as much if it had been piddling it down all week.

Summary
Don't be shy, give it a try - give holidaying in the New Forest a go if you haven't tried it before - just don't book 'our week' in 'our cottage'!

Summary: Loved it