Early summer break to the New Forest

The month of June is one of the best times of the year to visit the New Forest, when the weather is warming up and before the schools break for the summer.

In the heart of the forest, the village of Brockenhurst, with its many pubs and restaurants, is a great place to stay and is ideally located for visiting other New Forest towns including Beaulieu, Lyndhurst and the market town of Lymington on the coast.

Beaulieu is renowned for the famous National Motor Museum which is located in the grounds of Beaulieu Castle, as is Beaulieu Abbey. A full-day is required to explore all three which between them have something for all ages.

Lyndhurst is the ‘capital’ town of the New Forest and is home to the Visitor Centre – which is full of useful information and maps; the Visitor Centre also houses the New Forest museum which is well worth a look.

Lymington on the southern tip of the New Forest, on the coast, is a market town which has staged a weekend market for around 900 years. The town was recently voted the most desirable place in England to live, with its high street full of interesting shops, a vast choice of pubs and restaurants and the busy quay from which one can take a ferry for a day trip to the Isle of Wight.

The perfect place to stay is Cottage Lodge in Brockenhurst, a multi-award winning little hotel, with 15 individually-styled bedrooms, many featuring hand-made beds and other furniture crafted from fallen forest trees (the hotel’s restaurant is also appropriately named ‘Fallen Tree’).

A two night break between Sunday and Thursday in June and early July costs from just £78 pp (two sharing) including the famous Cottage Lodge New Forest Marque cooked breakfast.

Brockenhurst also has its own train station and is just 10 minutes’ walk from Cottage Lodge thus providing the option of a New Forest break without having to take the car.

For more information, visit cottagelodge.co.uk.