Forest Adventures

We boarded the minibus to head for the New Forest – all excited to be out in the countryside and looking forward to the sights in store.

What we didn’t expect was the additional interest of the New Forest Airfields Memorial at Holmsley South. Harold told us that he had flown into two of the wartime airfields and wanted to have a closer look at the memorial as we stopped for refreshments with the windows and doors open breathing in the fresh country air. On the opposite side we saw poems of remembrance pinned to the barbed wire fences through which blackberries were beginning to ripen in the tangle of bushes surrounding the nearby fields.

Karen our driver chose the scenic route which wound through Sopley where we passed fields of sunflowers and sweetcorn and saw families industriously picking their own strawberries. Then we drove through Bransgore to Holmsley before crossing a cattlegrid to enter the New Forest itself.

The sun was shining from a bright blue sky dotted with cotton wool clouds and the Forest looked stunning with far reaching views across rolling heather-filled hills to a lake where many New Forest Ponies had gathered. As we continued, we could see cattle grazing in the distance on the other side of us, then we dropped down into Burley where we stopped several times, patiently waiting to pass the groups of wild horses.

Everyone appreciated the beautiful drive and loved their morning out, and with a collage of photos afterwards as a memento they were able to show their friends and families and re-live the morning’s adventure.