The New Forest

The friend I stayed with last week (we've been best buddies since our infant school days, so half a century now!) lives on the edge of the New Forest. I took my time driving down to Hampshire and stopped at Salisbury on the way. Many years ago I lived in Coombe Bissett, about 3 miles away from the city, and I still have a soft spot for it. Here are a few scenes. This has a mill race beneath it still, where the river rushes through beneath the building.



This is the ancient Poultry Cross which dates to the 15th century.


Some of the half-timbered buildings in the town - even the cinema has a half-timbered facade.


Until 3 months ago, this was the china shop I remembered from when I lived in Salisbury at the end of the 70s. It is wonderful inside, with uneven floors and beams everywhere.

This is on the corner of the road approaching the bus station. I don't remember the bottom half being all-glass when I lived there, so perhaps it has been renovated in recent years. A lovely building though.


I stopped at some favourite old haunts once I got to the Forest, and picked several bags of crab apples from different trees. One poor tree had been badly damaged by deer who had obviously been trying to remove the velvet from their antlers, but hopefully it will grow back stronger next year.

A pretty little mare near Linwood who had apparently escaped the Drift as her tail wasn't notched.

. . . and her companion, who had been caught in the Drift and had her tail cut in a particular pattern which denotes which part of the Forest she belongs to. All the ponies have owners and should carry their individual brand mark. This one is quite heavily in foal. In the past, when stallions were running out with their mares throughout the year, foals were normally born in the summer. However, I saw very few foals but plenty of heavily in-foal mares so there will be lots of Autumn babies this year.

In bad weather, the ponies will disappear into the woodland to seek shelter.