Exploring the New Forest

In the welcoming wilderness in southern England, there’s a thriving diversity of flora and fauna, all easily accessible to motorhomers... It is ‘commoning’ that makes the New Forest the unique area it is today. The ‘commoners’ are those people who own or live on land which has rights of common — ancient rights attached to the land, and which cannot be withdrawn. The commoners own the wild ponies of the forest (only ‘wild’ in the sense that they run free) and are allowed to graze their livestock in the forest, which in turn keeps the scrub growth down. Although the grazing is free, practicing commoners have to pay an annual marking fee in respect of each animal to pay towards the cost of employing the ‘agisters’. This includes donkeys and pigs turned out for the ‘pannage’ season in autumn. The commoners also allowed to burn forest wood for domestic purposes. As well as the cords (bundles) of wood that the Forestry Commission cuts for them, anyone living within a forest property built before 1850 can gather fallen branches for firewood — but only as long as they don’t use a vehicle to carry them. Here in Lyndhurst, in the Queen’s House, the ‘verderers’ hold their ancient court at regular intervals throughout the year. They have been the guardians of commoners’ rights since Norman tithes and are also responsible for the protection of the forest. They hold the register of animal brands — all pony owners must use a brand to identify their depastured (free-grazing) stock — and employ five ‘agisters’, who are skilled men with a good working knowledge of the New Forest, to patrol the area daily, often on horseback, to supervise and control the animals grazing the forest. The agisters also collect fees for the depastured animals from their owners and then clip the ponies’ tails to show that the fee has been collected. The meeting of the Verderers Court starts with the Head Agister raising his right hand and proclaiming: “Oyez, oyez, oyez! All manner of persons who have any presentment or matter or thing to do at this Court of Verderers, let him come forward and he shall be heard. God Save the Queen! I also learned that fans of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland make pilgrimages to the grave of Alice Hargreaves, the original Alice who inspired the author, here in the St Michael and All Angels churchyard. Keen to head out into the heart of the forest, armed with all this information, I unfastened my bike from the motorhome and set off alongside the coach park area of Lyndhurst’s main car park, behind the tourist information centre. The 15-mile cycle route I took headed out into the scenic heart of the New Forest, taking in the two ornamental drives that, strictly speaking, are out of bounds to motorhomers by virtue of a maximum vehicle width of 6ft 6ins. It really is better to explore it on two wheels. I climbed my way out of Lyndhurst, past the Crown Hotel and via Swan Green and its pretty commoner cottages with their thatched roofs. Three miles further on, up an unclassified road, I arrived at Bolderwood. It was 2pm — feeding time at the Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary. Fallow deer, with their spotted coats and black-and-white rumps, are the most common. Roe deer are the smallest, while at nearly four feet tall, Red deer are the largest wild animals in Britain. The Sika deer are slightly smaller. From my viewing platform, I watched a herd of 50 or more deer of all types as they ate no more than 30 feet away from me and 20 or so other spectators. Continuing down the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive takes you through the Ancient and Ornamental woodlands — the main reason for most people’s visit to the New Forest. It catapults you back in time to all those movies about medieval hunting grounds, and kings and queens riding through leafy glades. The woods, which provide homes for foxes, badgers, weasels, woodpeckers and tawny owls, are dominated by mighty oaks and beeches, yew, rowan and birch trees.