Common Lands

WE have moved on from Thomas Hardy’s Wessex in Dorset to the obscurely named Canada Common in Hampshire.
It adjoins the New Forest and depending just which part of the Common you are on, you might be in the small hamlet of Canada, or on Wellow Common or Penn Common.
It is largely heathland with many shrubs yet no more than a smattering of trees which you might expect to be the main feature as part of the Forest.
The area of Canada itself is just inside the New Forest boundary and can only be reached by public road from a road off the A36 at West Wellow.
It’s good walking country and during almost any daylight hour it’s a favourite for dog walkers, yet grazing ponies, donkeys and even cattle seem to live happily with the visiting pets.

While the area does not share the same type of terrain or landscape as you’ll find in Hardy country in Dorset, it nevertheless holds a special charm and the historical association going back to medieval times when Wessex was an Anglo Saxon Kingdom.  And it is on record that William the Conqueror held an affection for the New Forest and the wide open areas of heathland like this, calling it his new hunting forest.