New Forest National Park
The New Forest National Park in Hampshire is one of the most unusual landscapes in England, a large area of ancient woodland, heath and common land that has been managed as a royal hunting forest since William the Conqueror established it in 1079 and whose survival to the present day in a region of intense development pressure represents one of the most remarkable acts of landscape preservation in the country. The park covers approximately 570 square kilometres and supports the largest area of lowland heath in Europe, habitats of international conservation importance for the species they support and the ecological processes they maintain.
The forest has been grazed by ponies, cattle and pigs through common rights that date from the Norman period, and this continuous grazing pressure is responsible for the characteristic open, parkland character of much of the woodland and the maintenance of the heathland by preventing tree and scrub encroachment. The New Forest ponies, a semi-feral native breed that has lived in the forest since at least the medieval period, are the most visible and most beloved wildlife of the park, small herds and solitary animals encountered on every road and path through the forest. Their legal right to graze the common land is older than any existing legislation and they are given precedence on the forest roads.
The ancient woodland of the forest, including the old-growth areas around Bolderwood and Rhinefield where enormous veteran oaks and beeches of several centuries age provide habitat for rare woodland species, is among the finest and most ecologically important in Britain. The dead wood habitats associated with veteran trees support a specialised community of fungi, invertebrates and birds found in very few other British woodlands.
The forest towns of Lyndhurst and Burley provide visitor services and the extensive cycling and walking route networks make the New Forest one of the most accessible national parks in England.