Summer Holidays

It's that time of year again. The family summer holiday. Once again our planning is spectacular:

• Camping
• Pembrokeshire
• Cornwall
• Hope the weather is good

2006, just a year ago, marked our first attempt at a summer holidaysince we came to England. The planning was just as detailed, but targeted Edinburgh. A few hours drive and a a couple of phone calls led us to Tantallon Camp in North Berwick, twenty odd miles from Edinburgh. Despite a few wet and windy days it turned into an excellent holiday break.



North Berwick proved to a useful base for a fun week of

• Beach
• Walking
• Museum of Flight (& the Concorde)
• The local Motor Museum
• A day of Edinburgh during the festival

(Read more on my Zimcontract website.)
So now we will see what sort of base we can find in the south west of England.

New Forest Weekend

What to do on a weekend when all the girls have gone on a girls' jaunt? What better than to take the tent and the camera on a short break to somewhere in the UK we have never been. In this case a little corner of the New Forest, specifically to a campsite at the Sir Walter Tyrrel Inn in Upper Canterton.

This is quite an historic spot. King William II, William Rufus, was a son of William the Conqueror, left to rule England, and not very popular. During a hunt in this area he was killed by an arrow, apparently shot at a stag by Sir Walter Tyrrel. Deliberate assassination? Historians have argued about this, but nobody will ever know for sure. Charles II erected the Rufus Stone at the spot where this incident apparently happened. During the 19th century the stone, by now damaged and vandalised, was encased in a cast iron memorial, which stands on the spot to this day.

The Rufus Stone, some 200 metres from the aptly named Sir Walter Tyrrell Inn is a good place to start a walk through the forest, in pretty much any direction.

We headed north after visiting the Rufus Stone, and had a pleasant and relaxing walk through the forest in a loop back to the Inn, via the village of Brook. Although the basic route is about an hour, a few detours took us about three hours with stops to investigat variou spots. We also disturbed a herd of Fallow Deer, which were good to see. In fact they were the first deer I have seen in England!

The afternoon took us west and north to the edge of the Bramshaw golf course, and then back to the Inn via nearby Long Beach Hill, and its very pleasant looking campsite.

As a campsite the Sir Walter Tyrrell Inn is comortable and spacious. With only toilets and basins, the addition of a couple of showers would make it almost perfect. Food in the pub was not cheap, but of excellent quality.

This was a great first visit to the New Forest. Be sure that we will be back at the next opportunity.

Links:
Sir Walter Tyrrell Inn, and a bit of history

The New Forest

Ordnance Survey Explorer Map OL22, Grid Ref: SU 270 125 (Rufus Stone)




A few Photos: