New Forest

The New Forest has a stronger concentration of country house hotels and spa retreats than most rural corners of England, and Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst sit at the heart of it. Chewton Glen and Lime Wood set the standard for polished luxury with grounds and spa facilities to match, while THE PIG - in the New Forest and The Montagu Arms Hotel lean into a more informal, kitchen-garden approach to food and comfort.

Careys Manor Hotel & SenSpa and Balmer Lawn Hotel both suit those wanting a spa break within easy reach of forest walking and riding, whereas smaller places such as Lyndhurst House and Cottage Lodge Hotel offer a quieter, more personal base for exploring the villages and heathland at a gentler pace.

The park packs a lot into a small area, and most of the following sit within half an hour of each other by car.

• Beaulieu and the National Motor Museum — the Montagu family estate combines a collection of several hundred vehicles with Palace House, the ruins of a 13th-century Cistercian abbey, and a monorail running over the grounds.
• Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary — a raised viewing platform overlooking a meadow where fallow deer gather; a keeper feeds them in the afternoons between April and September, and the surrounding arboretum has three waymarked walks.
• Buckler's Hard — two rows of Georgian cottages running down to the Beaulieu River, built for the shipwrights who constructed vessels for Nelson's navy, with a maritime museum explaining the trade.
• Exbury Gardens — 200 acres of Rothschild woodland garden famous for rhododendrons and azaleas in late spring, plus a narrow-gauge steam railway that loops through the grounds.
• Paultons Park and Peppa Pig World — on the northern edge near Ower, with over 70 rides; the obvious choice if you are travelling with young children and need one guaranteed day out.
• Lymington and the Solent Way — a Georgian harbour town with cobbled Quay Hill, a Saturday street market and coastal walks out past the salterns towards Keyhaven and Hurst Castle.
• Cycling the gravel tracks — over 100 miles of waymarked traffic-free routes cross the forest, with hire outlets in Brockenhurst and Burley; the old railway line and forestry roads suit families well.
• Riding among the ponies — several stables around Burley and Brockenhurst run escorted hacks across the open heath, which is one of the few ways to cover the plains at pace.

Local produce is taken seriously here, and the New Forest Marque scheme labels food grown, reared or made within the area. Venison from the park's deer herds appears on menus everywhere, alongside forest-reared pork, wild mushrooms, honey, watercress from the Hampshire chalk streams and shellfish landed on the Solent coast. Cider is made locally, and the area has picked up several vineyards in recent years.

Lymington's Saturday street market fills the high street with produce, cheese and bread stalls and is the best single place to shop. Farm shops worth the detour include Setley Ridge near Brockenhurst and Hockey's at North Gorley, and there are regular farmers' markets in Ringwood, Hythe and New Milton.

For eating out, the Elderflower in Lymington is the standout for modern British cooking using forest and coastal ingredients, while the Haven at the Lymington Yacht Haven does Italian-leaning food with harbour views. The Montagu Arms in Beaulieu runs a serious kitchen, and Chewton Glen at New Milton has long been a destination for its dining room. Pub food is strong across the park — the Trusty Servant at Minstead, the New Forest Inn at Emery Down and the Royal Oak at Fritham are all reliable, the last being a genuinely old-fashioned place with no bar taps, just casks and pies.

Camping is one of the best ways to experience the New Forest, largely because the ground suits it. Much of the park is free-draining sandy heath and gravel, so pitches dry out quickly after rain and stay firm underfoot in a way that upland campsites rarely manage. The classic forest sites are unfenced clearings within the woods themselves — you pitch among the trees with no hedges or marked bays, and ponies or cattle may well walk through the site during the night. It is a genuinely different experience from a fenced park, and it is worth understanding before you book that many of these sites have deliberately minimal facilities.

Wild camping is not permitted anywhere in the New Forest. The land is grazed common with legally protected habitats, and Forestry England enforces the ban, so all overnight stays must be on a licensed site. That still leaves plenty of choice, from bare-bones forest clearings to full holiday parks with pools and entertainment.

The season runs roughly from March to the end of October, with only a small number of sites open through winter. May, June and September are the sweet spot: reliable weather, long evenings and fewer families than the July and August peak. The forest sits low and close to the coast, so it is milder than most of England, but it is also exposed on the open heath — expect wind rather than cold, and bring proper pegs for sandy ground. Midges can be a nuisance near the boggy valley mires on still summer evenings.

Pack for variable weather even in August, and bring a decent groundsheet: the sandy soil is abrasive. Many forest sites have no electric hook-up and limited or no showers, so a solar charger or power bank and a water carrier are worth having. If you would rather not camp cold, glamping has grown quickly here — safari tents, pods and shepherd's huts are available on several of the larger parks, generally at three to four times the cost of a tent pitch but with beds, heating and often a private bathroom.

Self-catering cottages scattered across the New Forest give visitors the freedom to come and go as they please, useful when the ponies, cycle trails and coastal paths are on the doorstep. Properties like Four Oaks, Silverland and Greenbank Cottage sit within easy reach of forest villages, while conversions such as Higher Farm's Saddle Room and Stables show how many are carved from old farm buildings rather than purpose-built.

Choosing between them often comes down to setting: some, like Heathfield Lodge or Arnewood Corner, favour quieter, more rural spots for walkers and wildlife-watchers, while others sit closer to villages with pubs and shops nearby. Smaller options such as The Annexe @ The Roost or Star Cottage suit couples wanting a base for day trips, whereas Ivy Cottage and similar houses offer more space for families or groups travelling together.