Lymington and Brockenhurst

We went to Lymington during our recent trip to the New Forest, it is a lovely boating area. There are lots of fisherman and sailing activities which can happen here, including the Isle of Wight ferry crossings.

We spent the day watching the boats, on a boat trip and crabbing.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the boats in the harbour, there were hundreds.

Whislt wating to board our boat for the trip we sat on the edge and watched the sea life in the water- those little flecks in the picture are the fish.

Then it was our turn to go- we sat at the front of the boat, am sure there is a boating term for this but it is unknown to me!

I can never get a picture of the teenager lately- he does this if he doesn't hide!

The Isle of Wight ferry coming straight for our little but- Puffing Billie.

 

After our boat trip we joined numerous other families and did some crabbing. We caught one little crab and there were 2 very large ones- which got away before we could hoist them out of the water!

I have misplaced the pictures of the crabbing- they may well be on Dylan's camera as my phone battery died that day.

On the way back to the campsite we discovered a little stream where lots of children were playing. So there was water safe to play in- yes regular readers guessed it- my water baby was straight in her costume and in the middle of it- I had left swimming stuff permanently in the car while we were off exploring as you never now what you will find!

And there ends another beautiful day in the New Forest. I think there is one more place I want to share, I am trying to spread them out so the posts aren't too long.

I need to go and get Stephanie ready for her swimming lesson now so the last one will have to wait for now.

 

Have a good day all!

Beaulieu

When we were in the New Forest we loved this village. It has ponies and donkeys roaming free through the middle of it. There are old world type shops and a school/community garden with an honesty box.

Lots of lovely thatched cottages

Friendly donkey by the village lake

ponies and foals wandering freely around

The village lake

 

 The growing garden, and below Stephanie selecting some green beans for our dinner from the honesty box.

 

 

this is the old fashioned newsagent, with real pick and mixes like we used to get when I was a child.

We loved this village so much that we came back en route for home! We visited the shop for our 20p mix-ups each, I also bought some local plums and strawberries, all gone now lol.

We then had lunch in a café in Steff's kitchen not our usual cheap as chips type place, but delicious. Dylan had a steak Panini, I had goats cheese and pesto and Stephanie had a children's tuna sandwich. The children's sandwich came with cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks and carrot sticks. Stephanie was a little disappointed to only get 2 of each though- she does love her veggies. We also shared a portion of chips, which was plenty for the three of us, the portions are large, it was a very different treat- the chips came out in a flower pot! If you are nearby it is well worth a visit- but don't expect it as an uber-frugal treat!

 

cycling in the New forest

Whilst in the new Forest wehired bikes. It is the ideal place to cycle as there are many off route places to cycle. We couldn't take our own bikes as mine is broken and I can't carry them on the new car due to the spoiler. I need to look into a way of transporting our bikes on the new car.
We hired the bikes from a company which delivered and collected the bikes direct to our campsite. It cost £14 per day for an adult bike, £7 for a children's bike. As we are not a  cycling family I decided to hire a taga long bike for Stephanie as I was unsure how well she would manage a day cycling.

I was a little wobbly at first, and took a little getting used to so we rode around the campsite before heading off into the forest.

The forest was beautiful.

We soon got the hang of the tag a long.

We stopped regularly along the way for drinks and to relieve our bottoms! LOL I know understand why some serious cyclers have padded shorts!

Stephanie was very pleased as her wobbly tooth fell out before we left. We cycled all day. I think we clocked up around 30 miles in total. We ended up cycling to Lyndhurst as Stephanie had seen a New Forest museum she wanted to visit. We went in the museum which was fantastic. It is a small museum but tells the history of the forest from the time of William the Conqueror right up until the present day.  The museum had very friendly staff who chatted with me and the children, there were lots of interactive activities around the museum to interest the children.

All for the bargain price of £4 in total! I would definitely recommend a visit if you are in the area.

 

We had lunch from a  little sandwich bar, called Marina's sandwich bar. Lovely food for supermarket lunch prices, except you choose exactly what you want and watch the sandwich made for you. In total for this day we spent £35 bike hire, £4 museum entrance, £8.00 lunches= £47.00. Not our most frugal day but so much fun.

Oh and it is also one of the items off of my bucket list :-)