Postcards from the New Forest
From 1079 when William the
Conqueror established the area as a
royal hunting ground, kings and queens
and their courts came regularly to stay
at the Royal Manor and Lyndhurst took
its place naturally as the 'capital' of the
New Forest.
Dominating the Lyndhurst skyline
stands St Michael and All Angels
Church, pictured bottom right, where
the influence of the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood is everywhere. In the
churchyard is the grave of Alice Liddell,
Lewis Carroll's inspiration for Alice in
Wonderland. Alice lived all her married
life in Lyndhurst, taking a great interest
in local affairs.
Next to the Church is the Queen's
House, once a royal hunting lodge visited
by kings and queens. Now the
headquarters of the Forestry Commission,
it is also home to the Verderers Court
which dates from Norman times and
deals with matters concerning the Forest's
ancient commoning system.
For anyone wanting a taste of the New
Forest, Lyndhurst is a great place to
start. With miles of cycle tracks and
walks around the town there is plenty to
explore. And on your return you'll find
the numerous coffee shops, with
delightful cakes, a great way to replace
that burnt-off energy!
A good starting point for walkers is
Bolton's Bench. The distinctive yew
tree and bench at the top of the hill,
pictured top right, commemorate the
Duke of Bolton as the New Forest
Master Keeper in the 18th century.
In this century Lyndhurst combines
Forest traditions - the New Forest
museum is a great place to find out
more about them - with modern shops
and restaurants, creating a lively town
to be found bustling with visitors on sunny weekends
3:32pm Thursday 5th June 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
