New Forest camping without a car?

greengirl999

Hi!

We are hoping to go down to New Forest from London by train, for 2 nights of camping over a weekend in Sept.

Can anyone reccommened a good place to camp there that has
A) Campsite not too far from station
Pub or supermarket close by
C) Walking/hiking trails nearby

And, optional but handy
Bike hire
Public tranport links to local villages

Thank you!!

gg

cardiffforthefacup

Both Ashurst and Brockenhurst has stations close by and if you are walking the camp sites keep an area specially for hikers and it costs way less. There is bike hire available in Brockenhurst again practically opposite the station, the campsit is further down and has a brook/river near it with rope swings. When I stayed at Ashurst (pub,village shops nearby for grub) the ponies were free to wander at will, so you need to make sure all food is in containers or they will nick it. Bring your camping canisters with you as they don't sell them here either. If walking, there are a lot of trails nearby and an owl and otter sanctuary about a 2 mile walk away, also a great farm where you get to feed the calves and lambs and lots of others animals, they also have full size trampolines in the barn which can accomodate adults. I never stayed at Brockenhurst but it is one in the pipeline so not sure what is in the area, but again there are walking trails nearby, there are bus stops and fairly regular buses but the trains are probably your best bet.

delain

Buses in the forest are not fantastic. brockenhurst is good by train, as someone has already said.

burley is nice, have you considered car hire?

Spring909

Stayed at Hollands Wood in July, it's about 10-15 mins walk from Brockenhurst rail station. Really nice, clean facilities there. You can hire bikes from the station in Brockenhurst which would make it easier to get to the site.

There's a couple of decent pubs in Brockenhurst and a good butchers etc... There is also a Tesco Express.

You can cycle/walk on the old railway lines around the Forest and there is a good trail to Lyndhurst (around 4.5 miles away) which is a nice place to spend a couple of hours.

delain

the old railway does make a nice walk/ride, and there's a big cycle hire place at brockenhurst station.

frivolous_fay

In my experience, you'd need to stay close to a town such as Ringwood or Fordingbridge to get reasonable bus routes / frequency - but the buses would only take you to the cities (Bournemouth, Salisbury), not any villages, particularly! Unfortunately, outside term time, the buses aren't regular to small villages (take it from someone who grew up in one of those small villages;))