New ForestSE England, Hampshire

This area of Hampshire was managed as a royal hunting ground for centuries, and has a distinctive character. It’s outstanding for flat, easy family cycling, with great opportunities for following wide gravel tracks through beautiful woodland. Follow the link below for directions and points of interest.

Brockenhurst – Linwood – Burley – Sway – Lymington – Bucklers Hard – East Boldre – Brockenhurst

Start Brockenhurst Station, on the InterCity London Waterloo-Poole line, journey time as fast as 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Essentials Good cycle hire depot at Brockenhurst Station, offering towable baby ‘buggies’. Planning Plenty of food shops, cafés and pubs in Brockenhurst, Burley, Lymington. Café at Bucklers Hard. Pub at East Boldre. Lymington to Bucklers Hard: especially peaceful lanes; other roads can be moderately busy on bank holidays.

Finding the way

Off-road alternative on forest tracks can be found easily from the Hatchet Pond crossroads. 1 Instead of turning left for Brockenhurst, go straight ahead down Furzey Lane and use a 1:25,000 map to follow waymarked tracks to Brockenhurst 2.

Points of interest

Visit the historic shipbuilding village of BUCKLERS HARD on the beautiful Beaulieu River, which claims to be the only privately owned inland waterway in the world. Enjoy the distinctive landscape of the New Forest BETWEEN BROCKENHURST and BURLEY – it is a unique mixture of lowland heath, grassy ‘lawns’ cropped short by the wild ponies and fine old woodland where the oldest beeches and oaks reach 300 years. The New Forest is managed for recreation and commerce by the Forestry Commission, and has its own court for Forest affairs. LYMINGTON is a pleasant yachting town with a charming pedestrian cobbled street at the foot of the high street, leading to the Town Quay.

Staying nearby

Little Heathers B & B, 13 Whitemoor Road, Brockenhurst. 01590 623512.

The Blacksmith’s House, B & B, 4 Lyndhurst Road, Brockenhurst. 01590 624524.

Britannia House, B & B, Station St, Lymington. 01590 672091.

Leyland Country House, B & B, Undershore Road, Lymington. 01590 677675.