A Long Weekend In The UK In Autumn | Photo Diary
How it’s already been a month since our mini break in the New Forest is beyond me but how it’s taken me a month to get this post off is no real surprise.
In my opinion there is no better place to enjoy autumn than good old Blighty herself. Sure in Winter maybe you dream of heading off to Europe for the snow and the markets and maybe a log cabin and some mulled wine but for proper autumnal leaves and forest walks, I wouldn’t stray anywhere else.
For my early birthday celebration (which ended up being hijacked as a post engagement get away) we booked a weekend in the New Forest staying in this cute little Air BnB in Lymington which is one of my favourite places in the world. We went on a Friday evening after work, a long drive doesn’t phase us in the slightest, and stayed till Sunday evening, making our way slowly back home with a stop in Dorset along the way.
After a wander through Lymington sampling all the shops and eating chips on the harbour walls we drove 20 minutes down the road to the real heart of the New Forest, to Brockenhurst and more specifically, we parked in Ober Corner and headed into the forest on foot. I know this part of the world really well having been there on many a family holiday and have hired bikes from Brockenhurst and cycled the Ober Corner route more than once - in fact, Jos was with us on one of those cycles one year even if he can’t remember it.
There’s plenty of walks you get can get yourself set on depending on your fitness or how long you want to be out but we went wandering with a camera and a coat pocket full of chocolate, preferring to get lost and find our own way back to the car, enjoying the scenery - ponies and all.
After checking out on the Sunday morning and breakfast and a quick catch up with Jos’ cousin in The Tea House in Lyndhurst we headed home, but instead of popping up toward Winchester and then getting on the M4 for that long drive back, we criss crossed the countryside and went into Wiltshire and eventually Dorset for a day at Stourhead. My parents bought me a National Trust membership last year and keen to put it to good use I always try and seek somewhere out to go.
It was a really cold miserable rainy day when we were there, the opposite from the day before where I was sweltering in my hat and coat, but after an hour in the house the sky cleared and although it was grey and freezing, the rain miraculously held off for the whole time we wandered. And boy did we wander. The grounds to Stourhead are enormous and the surrounding forest and parkland is wider still, somewhere you can hop in and out of the estate with ease with a simple jump over a style in the fence. We got horrendously lost in a bit to outwit some scary looking bulls and nearly missed out on seeing the actual lakes and grottos of Stourhead but we managed to get back on track and see it before they shut.
Queue a well deserved burger king and parting with a fiver for the bridge, we drove home from an idyllic weekend away under the most incredible pink sky sunset that a photo simply didn’t do justice.
