10 Hidden Gems Things to do in New Forest National Park Hampshire That You Shouldn't Miss

New Forest Activities provides you with fun and enlightening outdoor experiences. Perfect for getting active in the New Forest National Park. We provide activities for a wide range of people and organisations. Our activities are perfect for Individuals, Couples, Families, Team Building Events, Stag & Hen Parties, Kids Birthday Parties and Social Events. We also run custom programmes for youth organisations and schools. Activities include Battlefield LIVE infra-red combat games, Canoeing & Kayaking on the Beaulieu River, Cycle Hire, Archery, High Rope Adventures, Bushcraft and Team Building Challenges.

The New Forest National Park is truly unique. It’s a ‘world capital’ for wildlife with a huge diversity of rare plants and animals– one of the reasons why it was made a National Park in 2005. A place of outstanding natural beauty, the unique landscape is shaped by the grazing of ponies, cattle and pigs that roam freely. These animals may appear wild, but they are owned by people called commoners. One of the last places in southern England to offer a sense of wildness and tranquillity, it’s a wonderful area to explore on foot, horseback, or by bike. Indeed William the Conqueror, who set aside the ‘New Forest’ for hunting more than 900 years ago, would probably recognise much of it today.

Cycle Hire from a beautiful New Forest Village location with free parking! The perfect base for Cycling, one of the most popular New Forest activities! We are the acclaimed New Forest Cycle Hire, Cycle Sales and Cycle Repairs Centre, located in the unspoilt and beautiful village of Burley, in the heart of the New Forest and close to the trails. Our energetic and friendly trained staff are here to help you enjoy your cycling adventure, with rides for all ages and abilities.New Forest Electric Bike Hire. Open 7 days, All Year Round - Free Parking nearby.

WE ARE NOW OPEN! WE RECOMMEND PREBOOKING ALL SESSIONS IN ADVANCE TO AVOID DISAPPOINTMENT We offer Paddle boarding and Kayaking on the New Forest’s stunning coastline: take a lesson, hire equipment or embark on one of our unique experiences…. Visit our friendly family-run business in Milford on Sea to book your session, chat about watersports or browse our lifestyle shop. We’re Open All Year! If its your first time on a board or in a kayak that's not a problem! We run our very popular 1 hour taster sessions for SUP or Kayak on almost a daily basis weather and tide permitting. This 1 hour session is £25 per person includes our world leading equipment, buoyancy aids and instruction. Our team of professional instructors will get you out on the water enjoying yourselves in no time!

PRE – BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL – please do not visit us without booking! Insight Activities have 2 woodland locations. We are based in a gorgeous private woodland in the New Forest and also in Tolpuddle Dorset. We are a small company not a large mulit activity center. We specialise in authentic woodland activities : Archery, Archery Combat TAG, Rifle Crossbow Shooting, Axe Throwing and giant Catapults in the New Forest & Dorset. Our outdoor activity company has been featured twice on TV in the past year highlighting our unique activities and refreshingly different approach – We are not a large scale commercial outfit, we are small, authentic and offer a more intimate New Forest experience. Insight activities provide unique and fun outdoor activities within the new forest, Hampshire and in Tolpuddle, Dorset. If you're looking for some of the best things to do then please read on. We offer activities for individuals, couples, families, stag and hen dos, private parties, corporate events and mobile activity supply for events. We have consistently excellent customer reviews and are proud to be awarded the Tripadvisor certificate of excellence in 2016. Archery: We run two gorgeous woodland Archery ranges. One in the new forest and another in Dorset. Both use professional quality bows, the same as those used in the Olympics! Our belief is that when introducing a beginner to archery you should offer the best equipment and coaching possible to help ensure success. We offer archery lessons and courses in the new forest, Hampshire and in Tolpuddle, Dorset. Our archery range is progressive, increase distance, bow power, have a competition and shoot for tiny balloons as your archery skills improve. You are active for the full hour, no rotating your go. Our archery range is run by a professional ArcheryGB coach. Ages 6+. Crossbows: If you fancy yourself as ‘Daryl’ from ‘The Walking Dead’ then join insight activities for some Zombie killing action in the woods. We will be slaying zombies with Rifle Crossbows fitted with a magnified scope to help you shoot a Zombies head at 25m! Ages 12+ Axe Throwing: Connect with your inner warrior and experience the medieval activity of Axe Throwing in the new forest. We use custom made throwing axes and provide excellent tuition to ensure your success. A safe and fun activity in the new forest for all aged 12+. Archery Combat TAG Essentially Archery meets Paintball in this exciting new form of Archery combat game. Swap static targets for moving ones as you chase your friends around the woods trying to ‘tag’ them with specially designed ‘safe’ arrows. Hunger games for real, the most fun youre ever likely to have with a bow and arrow! Wild Snake Walks New Forest We are the only local company qualified to run exclusive, guided wild snake walks within the new forest, Hampshire. These unique guided walks are lead by a professional and licensed Ecologist. A unique new forest guided walk lead by an ecologist where you will find, identify and even handle new forest snakes in the wild, we have a dedicated study site to ensure we find some fascinating reptilian residents. The data we collect on our walks goes to Amphibian and Reptile Conservation and contributes directly to habitat conservation in the New Forest. An excellent location if you're looking for fun and exciting things to do in the new forest, Hampshire or Dorset. Activities for individuals, couples and families, fun things to do with the kids, unique birthday parties, stag and hen do activities, corporate events. Our New Forest woods are located just 10 minutes from Sandy Balls holiday park, 25 minutes from Bournemouth, 25 minutes from Salisbury, 30 minutes from Christchurch, 30 minutes from Lyndhurst. Our Dorset wood is located just 10 minutes from Monkey World, 10 minutes from Bovington Tank Museum, 15 minutes from Dorchester, 25 minutes from Poole and 25 minutes from Weymouth. Dog friendly – well behaved dogs welcome. Mobile range Insight activities also run a mobile activity range and can supply archery, crossbows, axe throwing and Archery TAG for mobile events and private parties. Booking – PRE BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL. Minimum age for Archery and Guided walks is 6+, 10+ for Archery TAG and 12+ for Crossbows and Axe throwing.

We are a friendly, family run Equestrian Centre based in the New Forest, we offer hacking, lessons and walkouts for adults and children from the age of 5 years old. We cater for all abilities, from beginners to the very advanced rider. Our friendly staff will provide you with help and guidance while showing you the fantastic scenery in the wide open forest. Our private and group lessons are held in our new outdoor arena with one of our qualified istructor. We also offer Jump lessons to our more advanced riders in our outdoor jumping paddock. We hold regular competitions as well as holiday pony club camps for children.

We are a large Country Park & Forest offering approximately 1000 acres of managed woodland and Country Park to explore. We have miles of mapped walking and cycle routes, two large adventure play areas, over a mile and a half walking route with numerous large woodland play stations to stop at, cycle and mobility scooter hire, model steam railway, golf and pitch & put, restaurant, staffed information point & Visitor Centre, disabled and baby change facilities at two large toilet blocks, Go-Ape and Segway hire, Ice-cream sales and visitor gift shop. If that is not enough to keep you busy, we have an array of activities throughout the year including, pond dipping, Ranger Den, Nordic walking. Admission is per car, and you need to know your number plate to pay at the paystations - at the end of your visit. See you soon.

Located in Minstead, Hampshire, in the heart of New Forest yet just off the end of the M27, this informal 10 acre woodland garden contains an extensive collection of rare and beautiful plants from around the world. In the spring, banks of Azaleas and Rhododendrons dazzle with colour, secret paths lead through drifts of primulas and bulbs to quiet glades, while viewing areas provide outlooks over the New Forest. Flowering shrubs and trees continue the interest through the summer with a blaze of autumn colour at the end of the year.In the water garden flowering and foliage plants thrive both in and out of the lake, enhanced by a collection of conifers.Our award winning Chelsea Garden has been wonderfully recreated overlooking the lake after winning GOLD at RHS Chelsea in 2012.The waterfall leads into our reinstated water meadow.The gardens are wonderful for children. The shady play area has play houses, swing and even a "dry docked" play boat. There are plenty of places to picnic and play hide and seek. The gardens also hold a secret, there are over 30 tiny fairy doors hidden throughout the garden. Our wildflower meadow and cottage garden are great for spotting wildlife and you can take a step back in time when you enter our historic Furzey cottage. Delicious locally made cakes and sandwiches are available in the Gallery Gift and Coffee Shop, which has plenty of seating inside, comfortable sofas upstairs and a pretty outside terrace overlooking the gardens. Browse the Gallery Gift and Coffee Shop which showcases and sells a variety of local art, crafts and gifts including work undertaken by the students from the Minstead Training Trust. Those visitors who like to go home with a souvenir of the leafy variety will enjoy looking around our plant sales area where plants are very competitively priced. The Gardens are open all year round, and the Gallery Gift and Coffee Shop is open from the beginning of March to the end of October 7 days a week from 10am to 5pm (last orders at 4.15pm). The Gallery Gift and Coffee Shop is free to enter and browse and enjoy a coffee, cake or light refreshment. Entry to the Gardens is by a set minimum donation, please pay in the Gallery Gift and Coffee Shop. When the Gallery Gift and Coffee shop is closed please place donations in the box provided. The entry donation goes towards the upkeep of the gardens and to the work of the Charity in providing opportunities for adults with learning disabilities.

Located within the New Forest National Park, Hurst Castle is situated on the seaward end of the shingle spit that extends 1.5 miles from Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire. Built by Henry VIII as a chain of fortresses to protect the Solent in 1544, this is the site where Charles I was imprisoned in 1648 before being taken to his trial and execution in London. The castle was modernised during the Napoleonic wars and again in the 1870s when the enormous armoured wings were added, making it the largest coastal fort in the world. Two of the huge 38-ton guns installed in the 1870s can be viewed in their casemates together with other weapons developed through 412 years of military use. During World War II, Hurst was manned with coastal gun batteries and searchlights. You can get to Hurst Castle by ferry from Keyhaven Quay (sat nav postcode: SO41 0TP) or you can walk along the shingle Hurst Spit. The castle is currently closed, however refreshments are available from outside the castle.