New Forest National Park
The New Forest National Park was created in March 2005 and the New Forest National Park Authority took up its full powers in April 2006. Its purposes are:
To conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of the Park
To promote opportunities for understanding and enjoyment of its special qualities
It is the eighth national park in England, the first in the south-east of England and the first to be created for nearly 50 years.
The National Park lies mainly in south-west Hampshire – from east of the Avon Valley to Southampton Water and from the Solent coast to the edge of the Wiltshire chalk downs.
The New Forest has long been recognised as a special and important area that needs protection. National Park designation means the strongest possible level of protection for the future which is especially important in the south and south-east where development pressures are intense and on the increase.
It is one of the last places in the south-east of England to offer a sense of wildness and tranquillity. As the largest remaining area of lowland heath in Europe, it gives the flavour of a landscape that was once much more extensive. Like other National Parks, it is one of 'Britain's breathing spaces'.
William the Conqueror set aside the Forest for hunting more than 900 years ago and centuries of grazing by deer, ponies and cattle have shaped the landscape. William would probably still recognise much of the Forest as the same place he hunted the 'beasts of the chase': wild deer and boar.
The New Forest National Park’s landscape is unique; it is a ‘living’ and working remnant of medieval England with an overwhelming sense of continuity, tradition, and history. It is the survival of not just one special quality but a whole range of features that brings a sense of completeness and integrity.
The National Park encompasses a wide variety of different landscapes, from the woodlands and rolling heathland in the centre of the Forest, to the flat and wild coastline and the farmed landscape of small fields, hedgerows and narrow lanes.
Together these form an extensive area of unspoilt and ancient countryside, with hidden villages and hamlets, that has largely been lost from other parts of lowland Britain.
These features include:
The New Forest’s outstanding natural beauty: the sights, sounds and smells of ancient woodland with veteran trees, heathland, bog, autumn colour and an unspoilt coastline with views of the Solent and Isle of Wight
An extraordinary diversity of plants and animals of international importance
a unique historic, cultural and archaeological heritage from royal hunting ground to ship-building, salt making and 500 years of military coastal defence
An historic commoning system that maintains so much of what people know and love as ‘the New Forest’ forming the heart of a working landscape based on farming and forestry
The iconic New Forest Pony together with donkeys, pigs and cattle roaming free
Tranquillity in the midst of the busy, built up south of England
Wonderful opportunities for quiet recreation, learning and discovery in one of the last extensive, gentle landscapes in the south including unmatched open access on foot and horseback
A healthy environment: fresh air, clean water, local produce and a sense of ‘wildness’
Strong and distinctive local communities with real pride in and sense of identity with their local area
New Forest National Park Authority
South Efford House
Milford Road
Everton
Lymington
SO41 0JD