Animals not robbers rule the highways in the New Forest. Horses groom each other in the middle of the main road and mares push their newborn trembling foals across the asphalt, oblivious to the oncoming traffic.
No one toots or shouts angrily at each other as they do in London. It’s all very civilised and peaceful and motorists sit waiting patiently, quietly until the grooming session has finished or the foal has shakily reached the grass. Metal cattle grids on the roads in the village allow vehicles to leave, but keep the animals in.
Things To Do
The New Forest is jam-packed with crisscrossing country walks ranging from half an hour to over two hours duration and none are particularly grueling All you need is a guide book and away you go.
There are dozens of B&Bs and hotels to stay at in Brockenhurst including the gorgeous 26-bedroom country house, The Pig, with its own walled kitchen garden - (you need to book weeks' ahead); or the 1902 mock Tudor, dog friendly Forest Park Hotel.
Keep an eye out for the beautiful privately owned country homes dotted around the New Forest as well. I spent a lot of time on my tiptoes peering into people's gardens wishing I had their houses.
On one walk, I visited St Nicholas Parish - the site of the church so old it was mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086 A.D. Its ancient cemetery was smothered in wild flowers and protected by enormous trees; some truly primeval plots hidden behind rusty ornate gates like a scene from The Secret Garden.
In a yellow rolling field framed by Ash tree hedges, a family of cows and calves developed a fixation with my Marc Jacob wellies. In another part of the forest I found herds of deer basking in the sun and occasionally fussing over each other like mums at a family picnic.
I came across babbling brooks, deep, dark cool water holes, and trees entwined and twisted with each other across the river, great strips of moss hanging from their branches like a dark wizard’s fingers caressing the water.
Beds of bluebells sparkled in the sun, dappled light shone through trees as though lighting the way to Excalibur and acres of muddy bogs sit silent and still. New Forest Ponies thundered around in large herds, or quietly munched away under the trees.
The legend of the New Forest ponies
Legend has it that the New Forest Ponies swam ashore from a wrecked Spanish galleon. All the ponies are wild in the sense that they can roam free but many are owned by New Forest commoners.
Some of the New Ponies are broken in and you can ride them through the New Forest. Obviously this needs to be done through a registered equestrian centre like Ford Farm Stables. You can’t just run out into the New Forest with a rope and jump on the back of a pony, unless of course you fancy being stamped into the ground or bucked off into a nearby oak tree.
I hired a horse at nearby Ford Farm Stables – a hairy, fat gypsy cob called Dolly with a wild unkempt mane – and galloped across open fields like Maid Marian past herds of New Forest ponies and huge staring highland cattle. We squelched through knee-deep bogs and passed through thick woods.
A tiny foal, accompanied by its stressed out mother, chased us the whole way, squealing and cantering its tiny hooves across the heathland, up hills and under bridges. Apparently the foal chases nearly every hack around the New Forest with its poor mother in hot pursuit.
Birds and large dragonflies flew around us as we rode through the forest and occasionally we'd catch a glimpse of deer or wild ponies in the distance. It was truly another world.
I even saw my old friends, the delinquent Brockenhurst donkeys, who blatantly ignored the tourists 'woo-hooing' them hoping to to get a photograph. They always looked like they were up to no good - these three asses. You'd see them standing near the cattle grids plotting their escape, or around the corner of Tesco's getting ready to pounce on an unsuspected child carrying carrots or bags of sugar. In Spring there are loads of baby donkeys who hang out on corners with their mothers, learning the ropes.
While riding, cycling and walking is definitely the best way to see the New Forest, there is also the New Forest tour bus which operates in the Summer and will take you from village to village and even down to the seaside. Or you can simply hire a car and explore the area.
The New Forest is the perfect outdoor holiday - you can spend the morning doing one of the many fantastic walks followed by a two hour ride through countryside in the afternoon that leaves you exhausted but smiling from ear to ear. And of course after long days in the saddle or on foot, one needs deserves a plate of fresh scones topped with cream and jam.
There are plenty of pubs and tea houses dotted around Brockenhurst to choose from. The Tea Garden, near The Splash, serves the best cream teas. Also check out The Thatched Cottage which looks like a house in the Shire with its traditional thatched roof and tiny interior, and my favourite - the Snakecatcher - in Lyndhurst Road which has a fantastic outdoor area, great pub food and is named after a famous snake catcher called Harry 'Brusher' Mills. His grave, featuring a snake, is near the old church.
The New Forest is a place for everyone - whether you're just wanting a weekend out of the city, are keen on horses and want the freedom to ride 'off piste', are fascinated by wildlife and birds, or like me, have a wild imagination and want to be re-acquainted with your childhood dreams.
