Mark walks by the Master Builder's bar at Bucklers Hard

April 2012

On Friday we drove to Lyndhurst and a short distance beyond to Beaulieu village, where we parked and walked to Bucklers Hard along the Beaulieu River.
This was about 2 miles each way out via a woodland path and back via an attractive river bank.
Bucklers Hard has made boats for 400 years or more and there is still a chandelry and workshops.

The bar at the Master Builders House Hotel at Bucklers Hard is recommended in the AA Guide and by us, for its warm atmosphere, excellent ploughman's lunch and good beer.

During a rain shower we visited the interesting museum and learned how to use bent and shaped trees to create a warship (you just pull the tree into the shape you want with a bit of rope; it can take up to 200 years).

Then back to Lyndhurst to our b&b - very comfortable and scores highly on Trip Adviser.

With a huge choice of restaurants we plumped for The Oak Inn at Bank, just outside of Lyndhurst.

And an excellent choice it was, with very attentive staff, excellent food at a good price and very good ale too (HSB was my favourite).

On Saturday we ventured across to Dorset >>>

and on Sunday we ranged deeper into the New Forest, where ponies amble in the woods and on the roads, where tracks and paths cross in apparently random patterns (take a good map and a compass - yes, really!) and the active walkers, dog walkers, cyclists. bikers and runners meet up in good pubs like The Royal Oak at Fritham .

Here there are no chips, no sandwiches, a curious warning about only allowing the Duke of Edinburgh into the loos on his own, but an excellent range of ploughman's lunches.

Very busy too. A sociable way to end an interesting weekend of walks.

A second visit to Hampshire is recorded here along with a weekend on the Isle of Wight, which was once considered part of Hampshire for administrative purposes.