Camping in Brockenhurst

Camping around Brockenhurst means forest, not fields — pitches set among oak and beech woodland, gorse-covered heath just beyond the treeline, and the near-certainty of ponies wandering past the guy ropes at some point during a stay. The terrain is mostly flat to gently undulating, well-drained where sites sit on gravel and sand, boggier on the low-lying heath after rain, and the New Forest's famously changeable weather means packing for both sun and sudden downpours whatever the season.

It is important to be clear about the law here: wild camping is illegal in England without the landowner's express permission, and that includes the New Forest, despite its open, unfenced appearance. The forest's status as common land does not extend to a right to camp — pitching a tent outside a licensed site anywhere in the New Forest is against forestry byelaws and can result in a fine, on top of the ecological damage informal camping causes to sensitive grazing land and ground-nesting bird habitat.

Instead, camping in and around Brockenhurst means one of Forestry England's official New Forest campsites, several of which sit within a short walk or cycle of the village itself. Hollands Wood, immediately adjacent to Brockenhurst, is a large, tents-and-caravans site set directly among oak woodland, popular precisely because of its walking distance to the village's pubs and station; pitches are grass-only with no electric hook-up, keeping it closer to a back-to-basics experience despite the size. Setthorns, a little further out towards Sway, is a smaller, more rustic year-round site popular with cyclists and wildlife watchers, with some hardstanding, electric-hookup pitches available for those who want them. Other Forestry England sites — Roundhill, Ashurst, Denny Wood and more — sit within easy reach across the wider forest, all bookable in advance and all run to the same low-impact, no-hedge-trimming, leave-the-understorey-alone philosophy that keeps the forest looking as it does.

Peak season for forest camping runs May to September, when pitches at Hollands Wood and the other family sites are booked out weeks or months ahead, particularly around school holidays. Spring and early autumn offer quieter, cooler stays with a good chance of pannage-season pigs alongside the usual ponies. For anyone who wants the forest setting without a tent, glamping options — bell tents, shepherd's huts and pods — have grown around Brockenhurst and the wider forest in recent years, giving a canvas experience with a proper bed and, usually, a wood burner, without needing your own kit.