Lyndhurst, New Forest, Hampshire

Lyndhurst, unofficial capital of the New Forest

Lyndhurst is the unofficial capital of the New Forest.  It is a busy tourist centre.  The main street is dominated by the Victorian Gothic style church of St. Michael and All Angels.  In the churchyard is buried Alice Liddel, (later Hargreaves) the inspiration for Lewis Carrol’s, ‘Alice in Wonderland’.  Queen’s House, an attractive seventeenth century building, is still the Court Room for the Verderers, who administer the New Forest and meet here.

The New Forest

The New Forest, over 92,000 acres, lies all around.  It consists of varied wooded countryside, glades, streams and heathland.  In the clearings, there are delightful villages, such as Swan Green, with its much photographed Tudor cottages and Minstead, a completely unspoilt village of thatched cottages set in a maze of lanes.  The Trusty Servant Inn has a sign which depicts the ideal servant in a satirical manner – a combination of a figure with a pig’s head, ass’s ears and stag’s feet.

Close by is the Rufus Stone, where William II (William Rufus) was killed by an arrow, whilst hunting on August 2^nd 1100.

Beehive Cottage, Swan Green, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Looking east, from Bolton’s Bench, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Swan Green, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Beehive Cottage, Swan Green, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Yew tree, Bolton’s Bench, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Bolton’s Bench, Lyndhurst, New Forest

War Memorial, Bolton’s Bench, Lyndhurst, New Forest

The Mailmans Arms, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Bolton’s Bench, Lyndhurst, New Forest

Heather, White Moor, near Lyndhurst, New Forest

White Moor, near Lyndhurst, New Forest