Category: UK Adventures

New Forest – Day 7 – October 3rd 2024

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Yesterday we had a train related day. For those of you who don’t really know 2 J’s you might not realise that John is a prolific highly knowledgable, train enthusiast, who has over 26 books published by Amberley Books. The books are on various train lines, areas, locomotives around the country and each contain 180 of Johns own photographs. So!! Just occasionally!!!!!, when we are in the UK having an adventure we have specific train related days and yesterday was one of them.

Today we awoke to blue sky with a few white fluffy clouds…Yes!!!! We had been waiting for a good day so that we could visit Exbury Gardens & Steam Railway. None of us had ever been before …so it was a real excursion….
Exbury Gardens…although personally we think it should be called ‘Exbury Gardens and Arboretum’ is a 200 acre / 81 hectare of informal woodland garden. It is home to a large collection of rhododendrons, azaleas and many, many beautiful flowers, shrubs and amazing trees.

The Gardens are just east of Beaulieu. They are well signposted from the A326 Southampton to Fawley road in the New Forest. Their place in history dates them as Grade II listed gardens. In 1919 Lionel Nathan de Rothschild purchased the estate, and tried to emulate his fathers London Gunnersbury Park , by creating a massive very ambitious garden. The neoclassical mansion, Exbury House was built in 1920. It is seeped in history, having been commandeered by the Admiralty during WWII. It is not open to the public and seems to be having a lot of renovation work going on at the moment.
The gardens are open to the public, costing £13 per person plus £6.50 for the train trip. You can buy the tickets on line but we choose to get them at the ticket office, due to the unpredictable weather at the moment. A delightful lady served us and said it was fine to go out to get dads scooter after we’d been on the train. They also hire mobility scooters for a very reasonable £5 for half a day, £10 for a full day.

We had arrived in good time to get the 11.00am train. Please note…it’s quite a long walk (approx a little over quarter of a mile), from the entrance to the train station. We should have taken the mobility scooter with us, as there was plenty of room on the station, inside a locked fence gate, for pushchairs and scooters. We sat on the plentiful seating and watched them prepare the steam narrow-guage train engine and the diesel shunter.

At 10.50 we were invited to board the train…each compartment had bench seats opposite each other, so Dad and I sat facing forwards and John sat facing backwards…..we were soon on our way….our 20 minute trip was delightful. Not only did we go through beautifully landscaped areas of woodland, small lake and colourful shrubs but there was also many metal woodland animals and other creatures along the side of the tracks.

When we got back and disembarked we watched the engine being turned around on the turntable ready for its next trip.

We quickly went and got Dads mobility scooter from the car and set off to walk the rest of the gardens……it was really beautiful …beautifully laid out….the pictures speak louder than words…


When we got to the Five Arrows Gallery there was an exhibition of colourful Nerines….the gentleman explained all about them to us…he was from Zimbabwe and explained that the indoor Nerines were native to Cape Town in South Africa……We loved the way that they look as if they have glitter on them….in the UK they grow inside and are happiest on a windowsill all winter, flowering and growing leaves, then during the summer they should be kept dry and they are dormant…it was very interesting.

We continued our walk down by the lake before circling around back to the car.

What wonderful gardens…it was a splendid day. We had a late picnic lunch down at Hythe Marina watching the shipping coming and going before traversing the Forest, spotting the ponies on our last afternoon on our way back to the house….tomorrow we go home…a truly lovely last day of our holiday.

New Forest – Day 5 – October 1st 2024

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Yesterday we visited our relations who live in the area and joined them for coffee. It’s hard to say the exact relationship and I fear my sister will correct me because I am bound to be wrong…but I think…my mothers maternal grandmothers sisters child’s, child …I might have missed a generation out but they’ve always been known as Cousin Simon and Sheila to me and Simon is the son of Great Aunty Lily…although I don’t think she was an aunt, I think she was perhaps my grandmothers younger cousin !!!!! Regardless, they’ve always been family and it was lovely catching up with them…thank you for the coffee.
Today we headed off into the forest…a grey day with the sun occasionally breaking through, and thankfully no rain. We went through Sway to Horseshoe Bottom Carpark. Where we sat and enjoyed the views… plenty of horses….. there was also a man wandering about with a takeaway coffee..what a strange thing to do we thought. He kept bending and picking things up from the short grass, occasionally kneeling and once or twice sitting and still picking things up and putting in his pocket…..we watched him for some time. A car pulled up further along from us and a couple of men, father and son age, alighted. We were interested to see that they strapped a two wheeled contraption on to one of their dogs and we soon realised the dog didn’t have the use of its hind legs….. they set off across the grassland for a walk ….they stopped at the other strange man and conversed …out of his pocket came another open coffee cup and he showed the newcomers what he had been collecting… They all moved off and ‘curiosity was killing the cat’ , so I hopped out of the car and went to see what the man had been picking up….tiny mushrooms…I suspect magic mushrooms …my Miss Marple’s sleuthing had it all worked out!!! I was pleased when a New Forest Parks van pulled in and he disappeared..after all he was corrupting this sacred place where nature, heaven and earth are all at peace. We had coffee. Enjoyed watching the ponies and dog walkers traversing this area of outstanding beauty.

We decided to go deeper into the forest and continued on new routes until we crossed under the A31 again and headed towards Bramshaw . This time we didn’t see any pigs. Although we did see a lot of ponies and we went through some great villages with shops, the names of which really appealed to me !!! We stopped for our lunch and watched a pair of Wagtails and some Meadow Pipits playing in the puddles.

Deciding we would head for home we turned down another very narrow lane in the direction of Nomansland…. What a wonderful surprise …firstly a pig with two piglets and then another huge pig…as we went around the blind bend there in the road were about 10 really young pink piglets and their sows foraging in the hedgerow. Beyond them was a herd of donkeys blocking the road……what a lovely sight. As we could go nowhere, due to the road block , we spent several minutes watching and enjoying these animals freely eating and snuffling and grunting…it was superb.

We eventually had to move as the livestock moved onto the verges. Our return continued and we took the beautiful route past the Rhinefield Hotel and back through Brockenhurst….John got his train ‘fix’ as we waited at the level-crossing.

We got back to the house in time to put the supper in the oven. Another really lovely peaceful day, we saw 223 ponies wandering freely and 5 with riders …….Nature at its very finest.

New Forest – Day 3 -September 29th 2024

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Today the sky was grey and overcast…the sun had a struggle to even occasionally shine, and there wasn’t enough blue to make a pocket handkerchief let alone a sailor’s suit!!! We set off positively and took the New Forest route across the moors. We were surprised to see most of the National Parks car parks closed and large police signs saying ‘Slow, Pony Round-up’. Each year, the ponies are rounded up in what are called drifts. Over thirty of these drifts take place during the summer and autumn each year giving the ponies owners, the commoners, a chance to check the health of their animals and wean and handle the foals. So we preceded slowly with due caution.
We were heading to the coast.

Our first sight of the sea was a. drive by at Lepe Country Park…we had a beautiful clear views across to the Isle of Wight.
We continued across the back roads along a lane, Stanswood Road, we’ve travelled before. Several years ago we had seen some water buffaloes in the marsh land. But in more recent years we had concluded that they were no longer resident…we were wrong…much to our delight we spied two of them, happily grazing…

Continuing on we headed to Calshot, which is situated on the spit on the west corner of Southampton Water. We passed the wonderfully colourful backs of the long row of beach huts. The carpark on the right overlooks the main sea, in which ferries, a barge carrying a wind turbine blade, sail boats, yachts were all going about their business. A very busy shipping area always good for whiling away an hour or so. However, today on the other side of the spit, in the slightly shielded inlet there was wind surfing and wing foiling taking place from Calshot Activity centre, which is on the tip of the headland. As windsurfing was a sport I competed in, during my 20’s , I am always fascinated to see others enjoying the adrenaline rush of a fast run. It was here we decided to have our coffee today.
Calshot always brings back very fond memories. As a 17/18 year old I was offered a free place for a week at the activity centre if I stayed an extra week and helped as a carer for a group of disabled children. So it was home for two weeks and I had a fantastic time, learning to sail ( badly), canoeing, rock climbing, dry slope skiing, cycling in the cycle dome and many other great activities. I also thoroughly enjoyed helping children who were quite severely disabled to have fun and learn new activities. Their shear joy when they achieved something new has stayed with me for 45 years.

We continued on to Hythe. The marina is a favourite spot of ours. Dad and Mum used to spend hours sat watching the activity of the Southampton Docks, from across the water. We have inherited their love for this spot and we regularly visit it. Today there were 3 cruise ships in the different docks, several ferries came and went, sail boats cruised in and we even watched a ‘Rubber Duck’ leave from the marina and battle it’s way through the very choppy water, across to almost the Southampton side prior to turning around and coming back…. It was a great place to have our picnic lunch…we did take a stroll but the wind was strong and with dad grabbing his cap, John and I pulling our collars over our ears we made a speedy retreat to the car…. brrrrr…better in than out today.


We traversed back across the New Forest, held up again by ‘ponies on the road’ …such a lovely sight… We had only been back at the house a short time when the rain began to come down….so a good dry day for us with lots of lovely sightseeing.

New Forest -Day 2 September 28th 2024

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What a glorious day….I woke up early then dozed off again and woke up a second time late!!!!! It was so quiet and the blackout blinds had obviously disoriented my inner alarm clock…..that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!!
Having breakfasted we decided to head out into The New Forest…..the sky was blue and the sun was out. In less than 5 minutes we had crossed the cattle grid into the National Park and instantly saw some ponies…Although they roam freely and wildly they are not actually wild they each have an owner …if you live within the New Forest you have the ‘rights of common’, which means you have the right to graze livestock including ponies, cattle and donkeys and, during the pannage season in the autumn, pigs.

We meandered through Sway and headed to Horseshoe Bottom Carpark. This was my mums favourite place. Today there were loads of ponies grazing in small groups. Every so often another group came cantering over the ridge and down onto the flat green area which straddles a small brook. For no apparent reason the wind would get under a couple of ponies tails and off they would go. What a fantastic display they put on for us. We counted 38 at one time, they appeared as quickly as they disappeared.

We stayed sometime here and I made coffee whilst we watched a Meadow Pipit preening itself near the car, the many dog walkers, a couple of riders cantered along the flat and then turned and galloped flat out back, as far as the eye could see, with their dog racing after them and some of the grazing ponies joining in the chase…an absolutely wonderful place .

We carried on as we really wanted to see if we could find some elusive pigs. These are often found on the other side of the A31 & A35. We took Rheinfield Road which leads into an area called the Arboretum Drive. We also cheekily drove around the drive of the splendid Rheinfield Hotel. We have previously seen deer on their drive, but today it was busy with lots of cars attending a wedding.

It really is a very beautiful drive, even when it’s bustling. It was busy trying to cross the A35 to continue on the minor roads through the forest. We made good progress and we’re soon going under the A31. We stopped for a picnic lunch not far from Nomansland. Ponies were all around us…one in particular looked a bit like Noddy, the horse I had owned in South Africa, a beautiful Dun – golden coat with a jet black flowing tail and mane…..but on closer inspection this pony was a bit scraggy compared to my Noddy !!!!!

After lunch we continued to Bramshaw. Sure enough! As luck would have it…There we spied a big sow and two piglets snuffling around for acorns. We were delighted, because out of all the livestock which roam the forest the pigs are the most difficult to see.

We decided to slowly make our way back to the house. We were just commenting that we had seen loads of ponies, lots of cattle plus the pigs but no donkeys. We took the next bend in the road and there were 3 donkeys at the gate of a house….we also saw a couple more on our return journey.

On our way back we decided to detour up to an area signposted The Rufus Stone. We hadn’t ventured here before. After a short time, having gone through a rushing ford, we came across an oak tree with a memorial stone under it. Parking up we went to read about it….evidently King William II ( who was known as William Rufus) was out hunting with Sir Walter Tyrell. The later tried to shoot a stag with an arrow but he missed and hit King William in the chest immediately killing him. An interesting historical fact….however it seems that Sir Walter Tyrell is better remembered than King William II because the local pub is named after the former…yes we did avail ourselves of their facilities.

We made it back to the house by late afternoon and spent the rest of the day resting and enjoying the memories of a wonderful warm day spent surrounded by beautiful nature.

New Forest – Hampshire/Wiltshire, UK – Day 1 27th September 2024.

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Today we set off from our home in Bedfordshire to the New Forest some 150 miles South West. We often visit this area of outstanding beauty. My parents visited for many, many years and my mother loved it. So once a year we come down with my Dad and continue to create happy memories.

The New Forest  is one of the largest remaining areas of unenclosed pastureland, forestry and heathland In the South of England. The Domesday book states that William the Conqueror proclaimed the area a Royal Forest……. It is an area where livestock, in particular ponies roam wild and freely. They are known as New Forest Ponies and never referred to as horses…I had this drummed into me at a very early age by my mother !!!!….. Over my lifetime the ponies have been joined by cattle, donkeys and also pigs. Although the pigs are only let out to forage the acorns, which are poisonous to the ponies, they call this the pannage season, occurring in the autumn.
However!! I digress…….We set off from home at 10.18am having picked Dad up and participated in the usual strategic jigsaw puzzle of fitting everything into the car. This has become slightly more challenging as we now have to fit in Dads fold up mobility scooter as well as my pillows…..Job done and we were on our way.

Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire have, according to the TV news, been hit the hardest with flooding from our continuing heavy rain. Having done our research into which roads were open and which were not, we departed in a Northerly direction. Alas …… we were foiled and only 30 minutes after setting off horror of horrors!!!! we actually had to U-turn…something 2J’s pride themselves on rarely having to do………. We slowly weaved our way through some back roads. At one point we put 2 wheels on the pavement as we couldn’t tell how deep the water was….we realised that we were being used as ‘the outrider’ for several cars behind, who obviously wanted to see if we made it through some flooding of the roads…..we did!!! An hour and a half after we had set off we made it into our adjoining county, Buckinghamshire. Although their rivers and fields were flooded the roads were on the whole free from standing water. We were finally really on our way… we knew we were on the right track when we saw the beautiful topography gardens which always make us smile.

The rest of our journey was quick and fairly uneventful. Several hours later we arrived in the New Forest……what a pleasure to navigate around ponies blocking the road, a sight which always makes us smile..

We knew we were nearly at our destination when we went through the delightful village of Beaulieu. It’s always a favourite of ours as the ponies wander through the main streets without a care in the world.

On arriving in Lymington we soon found our rented house. Surprisingly it’s not our usual quaint and quirky accommodation . It is a newly built house on an estate……..we have however stayed here several times before ……..it has exactly what we need…1 double bedroom with dbl bed next to bathroom with bath and shower over it, 1 kingsize bed with en-suite bathroom with shower and a single bedroom with bunks suitable for putting case on. The kitchen is very well equipped with a dinning table for 6 and the lounge has 2 big sofas with PowerPoints in convenient places, …… there is also a downstairs toilet….it has heating and air conditioning throughout which is easy to adjust, big smart tv, WiFi throughout, a microwave, double oven, dishwasher, washing machine etc….so really great for a week of relaxation. It is also in a really convenient situation for getting out into the forest and for getting to the coast……if you look at the picture below…no I am not breaking in…New Forest Cottages email you a key code for the key safe a couple of days before your booking. There is also a really easy to navigate ‘Welcome’ file which tells you quite simply how everything works and also gives you all necessary emergency numbers such as dr, dentist, nearest hospital, shops etc.

John quickly unpacked the car and we were soon getting comfortable in the lounge. I had booked a Tesco delivery with the weeks food…menus are all good and we’ll probably eat out a couple of times…a great start to what is going to be a great week not least because it’s not raining yipeeee!!! And there is some wonderful blue sky yeahhhh!!!!
Happy holiday one and all..