Our guide to luxury New Forest holidays

Lymington. Perched on the edge of the Solent, this maritime town is full of coastal charm, with a buzzing quayside, cobbled streets, and beautiful Georgian architecture. There are independent boutiques, art galleries, and antique shops hidden down tiny side streets, and a lively market which has been going since the 13th century.

Stretching over 500 square kilometres, split between Hampshire and Wiltshire, the New Forest sits on the south coast of England. Ranging from ancient forest to heathlands, wetlands and coastal scrub, it includes towns like Lymington, Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, and Beaulieu, often regarded as the prettiest of them all. Originally decreed as a royal hunting forest by William the Conqueror, the area remains unspoilt and protected by law.

Though the New Forest is inland, its boundaries bump into neighbouring coastal towns Milford-on-Sea and Barton-on-Sea, offering around 40 miles of stunning coastline and shingle beaches. At the latter, would-be palaeontologists might like to get up at the crack of dawn and go fossil hunting for remnants of a Jurassic era gone by. Views that reach across the Solent to the Isle of Wight keep restless minds at bay whereas the pretty pastel beach huts that line the clay behind offer bursts of colour on a drizzly day.

Indeed, pigs roam freely in the New Forest to this day, given right of way during a specific season known as ‘pannage’, usually from September to November. This ancient practice serves multiple purposes: the pigs play a vital role in managing the forest's acorn and beech mast, feasting on these fallen nuts and preventing them from becoming toxic to the New Forest's iconic ponies and other wildlife.

New Forest ponies are owned by local commoners. Under ‘Commoners' Rights’, those who own land that contains these ancient rights are allowed to let their ponies graze freely within the New Forest. These semi-wild ponies help to keep the biodiversity of the forest flowing – but, be careful, those caught touching or feeding the ponies can be fined up to £1,000.