What?
Brockenhurst Village, New Forest
To celebrate spring we escaped the city to Brockenhurst village in the New Forest. This lovely little rural village is less than two hours from London, and home to native free roaming ponies.
We were greeted with tea and cake on arrival at our B&B, Cottage Lodge. The original cottage dated back to the 1650’s, and the low-beamed celling made from 17th century ships timber. Locally brewed craft beers, ciders and sparkling wine were available from the honesty bar. In the mornings we also enjoyed superb locally sourced breakfasts; porridge and honey, bacon sandwiches, eggs benedict, deconstructed Spanish breakfast and traditional full English.
We spent our time walking and exploring the New Forest, it’s fairy-tale like woodlands and moorlands with bright yellow gorse, hues of purple heather, eerily enchanting silver birch trees and occasional pony sightings.
After exploring the New Forest woodlands and moorlands, we took a 20-minute taxi ride to the coast at Milford-on-sea. The wind really whipped against our faces so we took shelter behind a dune and skimmed stones.
A short walk away from the beach, we had dinner at The Gun Inn. One of the best pubs I’ve been too, it was so welcoming and cosy with its open fire and nautical décor. The staff were really friendly, and the food and drink was fantastic. Would highly recommend.
Brockenhurst was a nice and very easy to get to rural escape from London life. Though unsurprisingly popular with Londoners, it did not feel particularly busy, even in the Easter school holidays. However we did find it hard to get restaurant bookings, even a week before. Also unsurprisingly, given its proximity to London, not the most purse friendly place to eat out. There are a number of excellent sounding restaurants that appear to be worth the price tag, but also a few that are not, particularly those that are attached to hotels (with the exception of White Tails and The Pig). Would not recommend the Balmer lawn hotel, where we ate on the Friday night. Small portions of average to poor dishes with an expensive bill at the end. The Gunn Inn on the other hand, was excellent.
After our lovely walks, the sunny weather, great pub grub and easy travel, we returned to London feeling really rested and relaxed. Ready for the busy months ahead!
On our list still to visit in the New Forest:
How long?
40 minutes tube to London Waterloo
1 hour 40 minutes direct train from Waterloo to Brockenhurst station
10 minute walk from Brockenhurst train station to our B&B, The Cottage Lodge
2.5 hours total travel time
2 night stay at The Cottage Lodge
How much?
Not the most budget friendly escape
£5.80 tube to and from London Waterloo
£26.50 train ticket (two together railcard)
£80 per person per night at The Cottage Lodge
£60 dinner at The Balmer lawn hotel
£25 Taxi to Milford-on-sea
£75 dinner at The Gun Inn
£272 total
