FOREST TRAIL

Visit Lyndhurst at the weekend this time of year and you can be sure the place will be packed with tourists.
Quite simply it’s a good starting point for any exploration of the New Forest, and although still officially a village, it is in effect the administrative capital of the New Forest with a history that the locals will happily tell you goes back to the days of William the Conquer when the Forest was a royal hunting ground.

Because of that, over the centuries, Lyndhurst was recognised as a favourite of royalty, nobility and commoner alike regularly visiting Lyndhurst’s own manor house. Now known as Queens House, the former manor is still home to Verderers’ Hall, the meeting place of the ancient Verderers’ Court which governs the Forest and whose history stretches back to at least the 13th century.

There really is only one main shopping street but one of the principal attractions is that most of the shops are still independently owned..