A walk in the New Forest

Today we had a brilliant day getting back to nature. We headed off to the New Forest and started with a long walk through the New Forest Wildlife Park. We arrived in time to see the feeding of the Otters - some very big ones and some extremely small and cute.

The big attraction for Mary was always going to be the Butterfly House, but on the way she stopped see the Harvest Mice - so tiny and fascinating - we spent a good time there watching them. There were dozens of large butterflies to see - couldn't get a good photo of the big blue ones - but got some good photos of others. It was like a steam room - funny to be so hot in the UK!

We drove around the New Forest to places where you would love to stop for longer, Lynhurst, Minstead,Totton, Boldre, Lymington and Beaulieu. Each place had plenty of things to see and do, there were museums, marinas, market towns and pubs. Today was nearing the end of school holidays and so there were heaps of people, cars and bikes everywhere. Still it had a great holiday atmosphere.

On the drive home, through the Solent National Nature Reserve, we crossed cattle grids because there were free ranging horses/ponies and cattle all along the road - just brilliant. Large flat, moor like areas - very different from the rest of the New Forest.

Tomorrow we leave Southampton for a couple of days in Brighton - a place we decided a couple of trips ago that we needed to return to and see all the sights - let's see how we go with all the holiday makers.

Cheers,Read more