Ashurst New Forest

ASHURST NEW FOREST station was the closest to Lyndhurst that the powerful local landowners would allow the railway to come. Lyndhurst, known as the capital of the New Forest, is exquisitely pretty, but seizes up with tourist traffic in the summer. People come to visit the church, with its stained glass by William Morris and Burne-Jones; to admire Swan Green with its cordon of thatched cottages, and to visit the audio visual centre. The Forestry Commission has its local headquarters here in The Queen’s House, a former royal hunting lodge. Lyndhurst has proper shops, including a marvellous butcher and a fruit and veg shop.

Property prices in the New Forest are high, despite the fact that the scarcity of building materials means that the quality of the older houses is often rather poor. Prices in Lyndhurst start at around £190,000 for a two-bedroom terraced house and rise effortlessly to £700,000 in sought-after Pikes Hill Avenue. A newish development in the centre provides cheaper property, with three-bedroom detached houses at around £285,000 and four-bedroom versions around £320,000. An owl and otter park set in 2,000 acres of woodland, is nearby.