809kbBreadcrumbs
131. New Forest
• An extensive and complex mosaic of broadleaved and coniferous woodlands, unenclosed wood pasture, heath, grassland, and farmland.
• A constant presence of numerous grazing ponies and cattle, both a strong visual element and a significant impact on the land cover.
• Open and exposed plateaux and small valleys dominated by heath, with heather, gorse and grassland with scattered birch and pine. Bog vegetation in valley bottoms.
• Pockets of farmland and widely dispersed settlements with large isolated dwellings, bounded by high hedges, contained within the woodland.
• Wood-pasture of mature oak woodland, patches of bracken interspersed with glades and heavily grazed 'lawns', verges and commons.
• Large woodlands of mature broadleaves and an understorey of holly and bracken, contrasting with dark blocks of coniferous plantations.
• Fringe areas of farmland with villages. Small fields lined by full hedges, opening out to larger arable fields, with contrasts between the more intimate features of the Avon Valley, and the salt-marshes and shingle beaches on the southern coastal plain.
For further details on this character area and for an introduction to the region, please see the PDF documents in the box at the top right hand side of this page.
