Escape to the New Forest this Christmas

There’s warm welcome and plenty of good cheer ready to welcome visitors to the New Forest this Christmas.

Whether it’s a Christmas shopping trip or just getting away from it all the New Forest is the place for a relaxing and revitalising Christmas.

Snuggle up in a country hotel

With their warm and welcoming log fires and miles of lovely bracing forest walks just on the doorstep, New Forest hotels offer a tempting Christmas break. Many hotels have special Christmas packages as well as pre-Christmas party menus for anyone seeking that festive meal in the run-up to the holiday.

The New Forest has the complete range of accommodation, from small bed and breakfast establishments to the world-renowned Chewton Glen, which was voted ‘Best Hotel in the British Isles’ last year and Britain’s top leisure hotel this year in the Conde Nast travel awards.

Another big hotel geared up for the festive season is New Park Manor at Brockenhurst. There, guests arriving on Christmas Eve will be greeted by the melodic sounds of the hotel’s resident harpist as they enjoy coffee and mince pies in front of an open fire. There’s a three-night package at £540 per person, including Christmas stockings and a Father Christmas with presents for the children. Plans are well under way in the New Forest’s ‘capital’ of Lyndhurst, where the Ormonde House Hotel is offering ‘Lazy Winter Weekend Break’ getaways with two-night ‘B & B’ stay ranging from £99 to £129.

If you want a total escape this Christmas there are self catering holiday homes available via the New Forest website at thenewforest.co.uk. Likewise, there’s a great little hotel in Brockenhurst – the Cottage Hotel – which is offering New Year breaks free from all the celebrations!

For self-catering breaks with all the trimmings and good festive catering on the doorstep, Shorefield Country Park at Milford-on-Sea offers the best of both worlds in terms of coast and country, with four-night prices ranging from £256 for a two-bedroomed economy chalet to £659 for a luxury lodge. Bracing cliff top walks with views of the Isle of Wight to the South and Dorset to the west are just a few paces away and the Crown lands of the New Forest are just a ten-minute drive.

Mouth-watering local food

The New Forest is fast becoming known for the quality of its local produce, promoted through lively Farmer’s Markets, the New Forest quality Marque, and in renowned local restaurants, such as Whitley Ridge near Brockenhurst. Visitors shouldn’t forget to try the delicious New Forest breakfast – a traditional cooked breakfast sourced from the best quality local produce – during their stay.

Fitness and fresh air

In the New Forest you can fight the flab and shake off the stodge with walks through miles of beautiful forest, or along stunning coastal paths. Who needs Christmas television when there are lovely wooded cycle tracks and country lanes to explore, with hardly a car in sight. There are plenty of cycle hire facilities available locally and - for a completely car-free Christmas - easy links to all facilities via the main line railway station at Brockenhurst.

Shopping

Tired of fighting your way through the crowds? The beautiful Georgian town of Lymington has a whole range of gorgeous gifts and many interesting and individual shops you won’t find in the usual high street. Lymington is a yachting town so when the lure of the shops wears off you can slip down to the quayside and watch the boats go by. It beats Oxford Street any day.

Traditional fun for children

The Victorian Christmas at Beaulieu’s Palace House and National Motor Museum is being re-vamped. There will be Victorian-style decorations, a huge Christmas tree and warming log fire with characters in Victorian costumes outlining life in bygone days while visitors enjoy a glass of hot fruit punch. Outside, there’s a new line in face-lifts for the monorail which links the museum with the Palace. It is being given a set of antlers and its North and South stations are being re-named North Pole and South Pole. Santa will also be driving the vintage bus and there will be ‘Snowman’ rides with music to match.

Paultons Park has made such a success of its Santa’s grotto over the past decade that it is now known as Santa’s Wonderland. Even with its well-organised booking system, there is just a little queuing – but Paultons has turned that queuing into fun by adding oodles of icy-looking Christmas fairytale sparkle along the tunnel to Santa’s toy factory.
Paultons’ opens at weekends in winter before getting back to full opening again during the Santa’s Wonderland sessions – booked in advance – from December 19-23.

The Christmas highlight at Exbury Gardens will again be the Santa’s Steam Special train rides through the internationally-renowned gardens, which have not only become a favourite with family groups, but are also growing in popularity with corporate groups, with Christmas dinners available in the restaurant.

Across the Forest, there will be countless activities with various communities staging their own events and the Forestry Commission leading the way with Christmas carol singing in aid of Brockenhurst Parish Church in the Blackwater Arboretum off the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive on December 14 (7pm).