I live in London and am looking for a couple of days away to get some camping in. The New Forest is a few hours away by coach so i was thinking of heading there early Saturday and getting the coach back late Sunday. Anything in particular i should try and see for or be worried about?
Overnight in the New Forest - ideas?
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You'll need a permit, and I think the days of camping in the wilds of the New Forest as my family and I used to do fifty years ago are long gone.
I don't know what your experience is but if you're comfortable in the outdoors and won't be doing any damage or drawing a lot of attention to yourself then apart from not being able to have a fire nor feed the horses there are no worries.
There are closer places that are less strictly regulated.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to get away with much in the New Forest. As you say, it is possible to stick up a tarp & hammock or a small tent after dark and be on your way by first light, but that is probably not the most relaxing experience. You would still have to watch out for the myriads of ponies who blunder through the woods at all times - you really don't want them trampling over your tent while you sleep! The forest is covered by so many laws and regulations that bushcrafting as we know it is all but impossible legally. For instance, there is no wild camping allowed, fires are not permitted anywhere, you cannot take any wood, dead or green, nothing may be attached to trees (not even a tarp line) etc.
However, there are a few remoter patches where you are less likely to be bothered by walkers / cyclists / dog walkers / rangers / keepers / agisters and, in practice, no-one will notice if you were to help yourself to an occasional bit of birch but it is certainly not the wilderness it sometimes appears to be from the outside (unfortunately!).
There are loads of legal camp sites though, ranging from the enormous 3000+ pitch variety, such as Roundhill, run by Camping in the Forest to small private ones such as Acres Down Farm. The forest is just starting to show its autumn colours now and is beautiful as ever.
If you do come down, I hope you have a great time.
However, there are a few remoter patches where you are less likely to be bothered by walkers / cyclists / dog walkers / rangers / keepers / agisters and, in practice, no-one will notice if you were to help yourself to an occasional bit of birch but it is certainly not the wilderness it sometimes appears to be from the outside (unfortunately!).
There are loads of legal camp sites though, ranging from the enormous 3000+ pitch variety, such as Roundhill, run by Camping in the Forest to small private ones such as Acres Down Farm. The forest is just starting to show its autumn colours now and is beautiful as ever.
If you do come down, I hope you have a great time.
The New Forest was great in the sixties, with that permit one could camp most places away from fences. Now I would go for a legal small campsite unless absolutely minimalist bivvy bagging. Do and try to take in the arboretum http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/englandhampshirenoforestnewforestblackwater
We also like the area round the Rufus Stone and the pub nearby "The Sir Walter Tyrell", if it is not too frantically busy as it sometimes is. Try to solve the mystery of the death of Rufus which was here most likelyand not where modern revisionists would place it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Wil...1903&sr=1-1&keywords=killing+of+william+rufus
We also like the area round the Rufus Stone and the pub nearby "The Sir Walter Tyrell", if it is not too frantically busy as it sometimes is. Try to solve the mystery of the death of Rufus which was here most likelyand not where modern revisionists would place it.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Killing-Wil...1903&sr=1-1&keywords=killing+of+william+rufus
Well I won't say exactly where, but when I did a contract in London in 2000 I camped for a month here:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&...8869,-0.447178&spn=0.013909,0.041842&t=h&z=15
Sent an email to the Lymington site, explaining that I use soft webbing and only need two trees. Their website states that they back onto the New Forest........this was their reply
"Although we would love you to come and visit our park, we do not have any trees for you to hang your hammock.
Thank you for your enquiry."
am I missing something here?
"Although we would love you to come and visit our park, we do not have any trees for you to hang your hammock.
Thank you for your enquiry."
am I missing something here?
Well if you were thinking of hanging a hammock in the New Forest, then perhaps you are -- the local regulations. If not, then maybe I'm missing something about your question and perhaps you can explain for the slower ones amongst us.
A forest is called a forest because it was a royal hunting preserve to get meat to feed the court. The term "Forest" does not in fact relate to the presence of trees at all. Large parts of the New Forest are bare of trees.
Certainly not many trees in the Lymington area. A lot of these campsites are just open fields. The Ashurst site is in the woods, but they are very protective over their trees in the New Forest so you might not be able to hang a hammock there.
I believe all the Forestry Commission owned sites in the New Forest prohibit tying anything to the trees, mainly to protect the trees of course, but also I think to avoid problems with the ponies (and presumably kids on bikes and running around) running into them, though not sure if I read or heard that last bit or just imagined it !
Certainly Ashurst and Hollands Wood, the ones I've been to so far didn't allow it.
Obviously lots of trees around outside of the camping sites although camping outside of the official sites is prohibited of course
Cheers, Paul
Certainly Ashurst and Hollands Wood, the ones I've been to so far didn't allow it.
Obviously lots of trees around outside of the camping sites although camping outside of the official sites is prohibited of course
Cheers, Paul
I have run bushcraft classes at some of the Camping in the Forest sites in the New Forest and I can confirm that they are very strict about not allowing anything to be attached to trees. The regulations do not even allow campers to tie a clothes line to a tree. The usually quoted reason is to avoid the risk of damaging the trees but they are also worried about ponies, deer, etc garrotting themselves.
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