As Christmas approaches, you may be thinking about where to take a festive break. Look no further, because the New Forest is just the ticket and provides a beautiful wintery landscape. Think puffing chimney pots from tiny, thatched cottages and old country pubs with roaring log fires. Take walks over frosty heathlands with thousands of free-roaming ponies dressed in fluffy fur coats, and spy deer and woodland wildlife tiptoeing through icy woods – you’ll soon feel like you’re in a Christmas card!
Add to the prettiness of the area a calendar of yuletide events and festive treats hosted by the National Park’s friendly locals. The region’s wonderful attractions get involved too and dress themselves up for Christmas to welcome visits from the big man in red, along with shows and experiences to kickstart the festive season in style.
The most obvious scene-setters are the Christmas markets featuring a posse of wooden cabins with bounties of gifts. The scent of steaming mugs of glühwein, mince pies, hot chestnuts and cinnamon fills the air, along with cheery banter and brass bands playing familiar festive favourites. Hythe, Christchurch, Lymington, New Milton and Ringwood host wonderful weekly markets which swing very much into Christmas markets come December, while Beaulieu’s Festive Fayre, Brockenhurst and nearby Bournemouth, Salisbury and Southampton go the full Monty with huts showered in twinkling Christmas lights and decorations, food and entertainment.
The New Forest towns and villages are great places to shop for gifts and hand-made goodies. A few hours strolling the quaint high streets decked in thousands of fairy lights and sparkly decorated trees is sure to fill you with a Christmassy vibe.
If you’re bringing little ones, head over to Exbury Gardens for a ride on the steam train and meet Father Christmas. And Paultons Park – Home of Peppa Pig World, pulls out all the stops with illuminations, a musical Christmas Tree, shows and lots of family-friendly rides.
As darkness falls, the magic begins to happen if you are in Bournemouth, which hosts a huge display of illuminations with its Christmas Tree Wonderland. The neon festival features replica Christmas trees from around the world from the town square Christmas market, past an open-air ice rink through the town’s gardens, all the way to the famous sandy beach.
While you are there, see a show at the town’s Pavilion Theatre or head over to The Mayflower in Southampton or Christchurch’s Regent Centre and take a seat to see this year’s super popular Christmas pantomimes.
For somewhere warm, comfy and lovely to stay this Christmas, take a look at our New Forest cottages. We have over 180 gorgeous cottages, apartments, family homes, cabins and barns to choose from – many with log fires and lots of dog-friendly properties too.