From : The New Forest, a National Park in Hampshire, UK .

[lugg]

Whilst staying in Dorset we took a side trip one day to the New Forest which I have never visited properly, although I have driven through parts of it many times . The forest covers a huge area (219 sq miles) and starts just outside of Bournemouth and continues to Southampton – it reaches down to the coast and up towards Salisbury.
Here is a little of what I saw. There is little in my photos to evidence this is actually a forest but parts of it are very deeply wooded. In fact I have since read that the name was originally Nova Foresta and the term "forest" referred not to trees but an area subject to Forest Law, reserving the hunting of animals for the king ( at the time William The Conqueror ). Large parts of the National park are moors and heathland.
The heather was blooming and looked so pretty.

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I knew of course that the New Forest has herds of NF ponies owned by the NF commoners but had no idea how many donkeys there are too. We glimpsed deer but I did not manage to capture an image. We did not see any pigs but I think they are turned out later in the year to eat the acorns.
I took far too many horse and donk pics but here are a few of my favourites,

It appears that many of them like to wait for a bus,
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Some try to enter the pubs, others go to the shops and some just like to cause havoc on the roads.
Can you see the donks ?
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A closer look.
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This chap looked as if he was enforcing the 2m rule at the ice cream van, but in fact was just enjoying the emissions from the air conditioning.

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This chap was a little shy,
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The cows were much better behaved and stayed out of town in the main,

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I was amazed to see this Cortini still on the road

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This redundant phone box remained empty .
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We went to look around Bucklers Hard, which is an 18th century village renowned in the past for ship building; in the main warships for Nelson. Of course its proximity to wood and water determined its location. It sits on the River Beaulieu. From wiki ;
Shipbuilding at Buckler's Hard declined in the nineteenth century. During World War II, the village was used to build motor torpedo boats, and the river was a base for hundreds of landing craft for the Normandy invasion, Operation Overlord. Today the hamlet is given over to tourism, with a small maritime museum and a modern yachting marina. Buckler's Hard was where Sir Francis Chichester began and finished his solo voyage around the world in the Gipsy Moth IV.


There is a small maritime museum and some of the houses are open to look around. Some houses remain in private ownership. Anyway it’s a nice place to wander around and we also took the trip on the river enjoying the good weather.

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The cottage belonging to a shipwright named Thomas Burlace was open to view , with a one way system and compulsory face masking !
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You could also peek into the tiny chapel, St Marys which is housed in one of the cottages and is still in use today. The cellar beneath the altar was used to store smuggled goods in the late 18th century

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I will finish this postcard with a few pics of the river. This estuary , including the river bed is in private ownership (Lord Montagu of Beaulieu whose family have owned it for centuries .) It is one of the very few in England that are.

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[onlyMark]

Lugg, the Ford Cortina - registered 1st August 1981. It has no MOT and should have one but will be exempt when it reached 40 years old. The MOT ran out 5th August this year.
It's only done about 35,000 miles though it could have gone round the clock or been 'clocked', i.e. altered.
It failed its MOT last year because -

Nearside Front Suspension rod insecurely attached
Steering rack has excessive free play detected at the steering wheel (steering rack fitted) Steering rack NS guide bush/bearing worn. Excessive movement in NS rack.
Rear Brakes imbalanced across an axle Axle 2
But these were repaired and it passed 2nd time on 6th August 2019.

Original colour was red, there was a new owner 20th Sept 2018 and its tax runs out 1st Sept this year. It is Insured.
It is the manual gearbox 1.6 Cortina Mk V (though that was really just a facelift of the Mk IV) and currently there are only 17 left on UK roads. There are though anther 20 parked up somewhere without tax, MOT etc and registered as not being road legal.
If it had been the rarer auto box version there are only 2 left on the road.

Just in case you were interested.

Your other photos are good as well.

[mickthecactus]

I once had a Cortina 2000E. Great car.

[mossie]

Quite nostalgic to see the Cortina, I was provided with a succession of various marks by my employers from 1970 until the arrival of the Jellymould in the 80's, which I took an instant dislike to and persuaded my then boss to replace it with an Escort.
The Cortina was a good beast for its day, I had one that did well over 90,000 miles in 3 years. This included driving to work partly along 400 yards into a sand quarry which could mean through 4 or 5 inches of slushy sand, I can remember the works fitter pulling out the steering for me and pouring liquid sand out of it when I had complained it was getting rough. I was looking after 2 asphalt plants some 25 miles apart plus 4 or 5 road gangs laying the muck, so the throttle only knew one position, the car had a new front suspension, gearbox and rear axle in its time with me.

Some very good photos Lugg, the New Forest is a lovely area made more entertaining by the ponies. Only in England.

[onlyMark]

My 2nd ever car was a Mark 1 Cortina, cost 65 quid, and later I had a Mk 2 1600E.
I think a lot of us have had them at one time or another.

Sorry for the diversion Lugg and yes, again, superb photos elsewhere.

[mich64]

Lugg, the photo of the cow and the white horse beside the tree are my favorites! Frame worthy.

[kerouac2]

I like the idea of donkeys and horses wandering around at will. Why should they have fewer rights than human beings?

Although the first five photos are wonderful, I feel that they are misleading. Isn't the sky supposed to be dark grey and damp with fog swirling around to hide the wolves?

[bjd]

This is perfect, Lugg. I'm just reading a detective story partly set in the New Forest so your pictures give me an idea of what it looks like.

I must also add that I'm always surprised that you can have private ownership of rivers and large chunks of what should be public land in Britain.

[kerouac2]

That's because it is not yet a republic.

[htmb]

This is fabulous, Lugg, and your photos are always so clear and crisp. Wandering donkeys and horses, oh my!

[casimira]

The first thing that struck me was yes, the sky. 
A very cool report. Many of these pics, the museum in particular, remind me of our home town museum. I used to be a guide tour there in my high school days. I knew that museum backwards and forwards. (My township in NY is the first English Settlement in NY, founded in 1652, Southampton, this was after the Plymouth Rock pilgrims that arrived on the Mayflower).
I love the donkey and horse photos and your captions are brilliant and funny.
I can't agree more about how could one family "own" a river?
Thanks for a smashing report Lugg.
Made my day, so far.

[lugg]

Thank you all.

Aug 30, 2020 6:23:33 GMT bjd said:

must also add that I'm always surprised that you can have private ownership of rivers and large chunks of what should be public land in Britain.

and

Aug 30, 2020 13:28:08 GMT kerouac2 said:

That's because it is not yet a republic.

exactly - off with their heads! Feudal laws still impact on the UK and especially where the Crown is concerned .

I had a minor panic reading Mark's comments about MOT expiry, as I had thought that all vehicles had a stay of grace until November due to Covid . Anyway I checked mine and all ok until November ( due in May so a guess there is a 6 month extension depending on the previous due date) I suspect the couple who owned the Cortini may be confused too.

Aug 30, 2020 6:23:33 GMT bjd said:

I'm just reading a detective story partly set in the New Forest so your pictures give me an idea of what it looks like.

, what booke is that bjd?

Aug 30, 2020 15:28:46 GMT casimira said:

I used to be a guide tour there in my high school days. I knew that museum backwards and forwards. (My township in NY is the first English Settlement in NY, founded in 1652, Southampton, this was after the Plymouth Rock pilgrims that arrived on the Mayflower).

Would love to know more about this Cassie - the UK Southampton is very close to where I took these pics.

[bixaorellana]

Finally came back to this surprising and very entertaining post card today to enjoy it again and to give it its due. I don't know what I thought the New Forest was like, but certainly not like this. What a great place to visit! Your affinity for the genus Equus shines through in your wonderful photos. The cow and her calf are pretty darn wonderful as well.

I love all the landscape views -- gorgeous swathes of heather and bracken(?) fern. Super report on a super day out.

[bjd]

Lugg, This Body of Death by Elizabeth George.

[lugg]

Thank you Bixa and bjd

Yes it is bracken.

[patricklondon]

I'm reminded of a historical novel set there at the time of the Civil War (and the novel itself was published in early Victorian times, but was serialised on TV several times): Captain Marryat's Children of the New Forest

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[tod2]

What a charming tour - Thanks Lugg! I want to take the little donkey standing in the carpark of The Royal Oak, home with me. It's the dearest little thing ever. The photo directly below it is of two Mules isn't it?

[bixaorellana]

The old children's novel sounds wonderful. I just looked it up and we can read it for free: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6471

[kerouac2]

It seems as though nothing bad could ever happen in a place called The New Forest. Now, the nasty Old Forest on the other hand would be very dangerous.

[mossie]

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

[lugg]

Aug 31, 2020 11:46:29 GMT patricklondon said:

I'm reminded of a historical novel set there at the time of the Civil War (and the novel itself was published in early Victorian times, but was serialised on TV several times): Captain Marryat's Children of the New Forest

I vaguely recollect reading that as a child.

Aug 31, 2020 14:20:49 GMT tod2 said:

The photo directly below it is of two Mules isn't it?

... no they are donks too. the photo probably makes them look bigger than they are. in fact I was keeping an eye out for mules ... what with all the horses and donks its not improbable that a couple may have found each other endearing.

[bixaorellana]

Sept 1, 2020 18:36:46 GMT lugg said:

what with all the horses and donks its not improbable that a couple may have found each other endearing.

Aug 29, 2020 18:02:06 GMT lugg said:

I knew of course that the New Forest has herds of NF ponies owned by the NF commoners but had no idea how many donkeys there are too.

Does this mean regular citizens who have a right to use the New Forest commons? Is that why all the animals looks so healthy, because they have homes and are fed?

[lugg]

Sept 1, 2020 23:08:50 GMT bixaorellana said:

Does this mean regular citizens who have a right to use the New Forest commons? Is that why all the animals looks so healthy, because they have homes and are fed?

...yes essentially they are all owned but more than that they are checked during what is called a " drift" This is overseen by the Verdeneers and Agisters who are appointed . The agisters have a more day to day role ie responding to RTA s etc involving animals.

This explains more ...
www.lymington.com/133-locally/1072-new-forest-verderers-agisters-commoners-and-rangers
and this
newforestcommoner.co.uk/

The commoners have more rights than just grazing ie Pasture, and these are Mast, Marl, Turbary, Sheep and Fuelwood.
I think the terms are explained in the links above.

Of course as incomers buy their houses in the New forest this way of life / the ecological balance within the area is being impacted upon as many new owners have no interest in the rights that come with their property.


PS ...if you look at the photo of the redundant phone box - you will see some of the pens etc used for drifts.

[lugg]

And this is probably much more than anyone ever wanted to know about the NF but just in case...

www.newforesttrust.org.uk/a-z-commoning-new-forest