A day in the New Forest - 22 July

Four large cruise ships in port today to enjoy the wonderful weather. Tom & Jeanette picked us up at 9.30am to head to the New Forest, one of 15 National Parks in the UK - and only made so in 2005. The area itself however was set aside by William the Conqueror as his private hunting ground "Nova Foresta" more than 900 years ago. The New Forest covers around 500 square km and contains a number of villages and small towns.

While it is a National Park, it has attached to it an historic, unique operational/grazing system.  Land owning "Commoners" have attached rights which permit a range of things, including the "Right of Common of Pasture" - which permit some commoners to turn out ponies, cattle, donkeys and mules onto the common grazing, or "The Right of Common of Mast - the right to turn out pigs in the pannage season.  Six specified commoner rights exist, all overseen by Verderers of the New Forest", if necessary via a Vereder's Court (one of the earliest of the English Courts). The commoner system is understood to pre-date William, and go back to the Norman times.

All of the cattle, ponies, donkeys, mules etc roam free, turned out by more than 700 commoners - over 5000 ponies alone. Wherever you travel in the forest you see this grazing - and remarkably in the main street of the towns you will find cattle grids to keep livestock out of front gardens. The New Forest is a mecca for bike riding, horse riding, camping and horse riding.

We visited the outstanding New Forest Centre in Lyndhurst and wandered the High Street.  In Brockenhurst there were ponies and donkeys in the High Street.  We lunched in Lymington and wandered some more - as we did in Hythe.

Back to Portcullis House for a coffee before Tom & Jeanette headed off at 6pm for their near (traffic permitting) 3 hour drive home.  It has been great to spend this time with Tom & Jeanette. They have gone out of their way to be with us, to drive us around, and have been wonderfully hospitable.

A quick wander to Town Quay,  a new marina and residential development just down the road,  for a drink and some food purchases before heading "home".