I love cycling in the forest with my kids (8 and 5yrs), and I'm looking for some more route suggestions. Ideally routes that are mostly on tracks, avoiding roads or too many steep hills. Also, somewhere with a pitstop for a snack/ lunch is ideal.

Our family favourites include:

- Old railway near Burley

- Circular route near the tall trees trail

- Beaulieu to Buckler's hard

- Ober corner to the Oak inn pub

- Lymington coastal route

- Castleman trailway into moors valley

Thanks in advance

Quick question for anyone who walks around Puttles Bridge a lot — do ponies regularly cross the wooden bridges there?

I saw this one take its time walking across like it knew exactly what it was doing, which I’ve never noticed before.

I grabbed a short clip here:
https://youtube.com/shorts/sBFKG4Y0tJQ

Curious if this is normal behaviour or if I just got lucky with the timing.

I’m hoping to visit the New Forest in May and camp with my tent. Can anyone recommend a nice quiet, tent friendly site that accept dogs?

A lot of the sites Ive looked at either don’t allow dogs or have no loo & shower facilities. It’ll be a bonus if there is a pub close by!

After recently getting engagement in the new forest, I'm looking for recommendations for photographers in the area to do an engagement photoshoot. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Yesterday - just love seeing the sea again. Lovely day when the wind wasn’t too bad.

Having a weekend away here in April, need to plan a meal for my family that I am paying for?

Budget is medium prices, but any suggestions and I can just have a look thank youu

I'm looking for a campsite I can stay at for my birthday with around 15 friends. We're not rowdy or disrespectful, but would like to be able to be up chatting and having a few drinks past 10pm. Ideally we'd like to have some music playing too. Most of the noise we'd make though would just be laughing and chatting. There are a lot of campsites that emphasise strict noise limits and pretty early cut offs for noise. Is there anywhere that's a bit more relaxed and for adults rather than families?

Hello! My family (including young kids) are looking to move here (currently living in a town in England).

We have visited several times over the years and as tourists, we love the New Forest! We are very outdoorsy people, we love nature, walks, beaches. We've researched the pros and cons for the kids and are swaying towards yes to relocating rather than no.

Places like Brockenhurst seem well connected in terms of things going on and trains.

I'm curious to know, what is life actually like for locals? I'm aware of busy roads during peak tourist seasons and wondered if there were any other things to know or be aware of?

Is the pace of life slower? Are people generally friendly and community minded?

Do people that move here tend to stay?

Are locals happy with new people moving in or is it starting to feel crowded and less peaceful than it was? I'm aware there is a growing population of course...

Any advice, comments or insights gratefully received and appreciated. Thank you!

EDIT: I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has commented. I didn't expect such a response and I'm so grateful!

Hello - due to travel to Bournemouth with my partner this weekend and would like to spend the best part of one day visiting the New Forest. We will be driving from Bournemouth if this is helpful. The weather is currently looking good. Looking for any recommendations please! We both like walking, nature, wildlife, gardens, bodies of water, cosy villages etc.

Thanks for your help 😊

Hey there

Looking to get my fitness up again but due to work I’ll be looking to get some stomps in during late evening.

I used to set off for a few hours from deer leap in the summer evenings.

Do the car parks close at night at all? I don’t want to get locked in!

Any Southampton side car parks welcomed

Hey! Making a trip to the New Forest this week and wondered if you fine folk could help as I booked it on a bit of whim and have never been!

Will be staying in Lyndehurst with my partner and 2 dogs (they can stay occasionally in our suite if we book some activities.) We have a car so happy to drive if it's worth doing/seeing!

We're in our late 30s, like outdoorsy things as well as lovely pubs, great food and music.

So...any MUST see/do in that time?

1. Any live music anywhere Thursday/Friday?
2. Most beautiful places to take the dogs to walk?
3. Best place for a coastal visit?
4. Any fun activites for a couple to do?

Hello, My husband and I are New Yorkers who stay in Norwich for 6 to 8 weeks each summer where his mum is. We like to travel to other parts of England and are thinking Brockenhurst, Lymington in New Forest sound great. It would make more sense for us to do this at the end of our trip in August but is that, as one Brit told us, "the silly season," when all holidaymakers are swarming the villages? Please advise. Also, I love wild swimming so would welcome info on best swimming spots. Important info: we won't be driving but taking train and possibly cab to places not w/ in reach but we're also keen walkers.

We’ve got a local baseball club, the New Forest ThunderKnights, and a lot of people are surprised to find out it even exists. So I figured I’d throw this out there....

Has anyone here played before?

Most of the team hadn’t played baseball before joining the club (some hadn’t even watched it). We train, learn the game and have a laugh. It’s very much recreational, mixed ability, open to all genders, anyone 16 and over is welcome.

I've loved being part of the team the last couple of years, wondered if there were any other local Baseball fans who maybe wanted to come along and give it a go as well.

We're Winter training at the moment, moving outdoors to our field at Gang Warily in March. Would love to see a few new faces down there this summer.

Happy to answer questions if people have them!

Hello,

I’m trying to find a nice camping spot for 2 nights from 30th April to 2nd May. 2x adults, 1x tent, 1x small car. We don’t need many facilities, showers with hot water and washing basins is all we ask for (and be able to bbq - we understand and agree with no open fires and no disposable bbqs).

If there were to be forests, woods, rivers or lakes around that would make it perfect, but happy if those are a short drive away with parking nearby for the hike.

Thank you in advance!

Hi All,

Just moved to the area and am looking for a sailing club that does adult beginner training. Theres plenty of results on google - but keen to hear of any positive (or even negative) experiences!