Author Archives: freestyle

Cottage Lodge Hotel and Fallen Tree Restaurant would like to wish everyone a happy New Year.

November is a beautiful month. It is the month when leaves on the Canadian and Norwegian trees turn golden, pigs are let out  on the forest with their piglets for the 100 days of pannage, stags have full antlers and can be heard rutting, and the log fires are crackling in the pubs. As well as walking and cycling in the forest, there are  lots of interesting things to do. If you click this link it will take you to an up to date calendar of things to do in and around the forest. click here Events include Christmas markets, talks about the history of the forest, jewellery exhibitions and church events. The New Forest is busy all year round. Even if it is raining there is always something to do. Beaulieu Motor Museum is open all year around (except … Continue reading →

Just 90 minutes from London, Brockenhurst Railway Station is the gateway to the forest for car free visitors. Cottage Lodge is just a five minutes walk from the station (or a short taxi ride). The station has over 100 trains that stop each day on their way to Poole or Weymouth. Trains come from Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, Bath (one change), London and many other destinations. You can even get here from the Lake District with just one change. It is one of the best connected village railway stations in the UK. Once visitors arrive in the forest they can take advantage of a number of car free initiates to get around. In the summer months there are four bus routes that take visitors to the coast, into the forest and across to Southampton. All year round there is bike hire, … Continue reading →

location location The beautiful part about being on Sway Road in Brockenhurst is that we are so well located. We are near to the village and the pubs and restaurants. Close to the petrol station and train station and on the same road as Brockenhurst Golf Club. We have great pleasure in welcoming golfers to the Cottage Lodge to stay overnight before a game or to stay a couple of nights. We are fortunate to have some great courses close by. For the avid golfer you can combine New Forest courses here at Brockenhurst or even in nearby Burley or Bramshaw, (that is if you don’t mind New Forest animals as game keepers!). If you would like to play with the South Coast as your back drop, then Barton on Sea is a perfect course and only a short drive … Continue reading →

We love it when a bride or groom and their family take over the Cottage Lodge for a night or two in preparation for a wedding. It is such a pleasure to watch the flowers arrive, see the cars being decorated, bring up champagne to the bridal party as they get dressed. There is an air of excitement as hairdressers, photographers and chauffeurs come and go. And, then the big moment, photos are taken on the balcony or outside the front door. Kisses exchanged. Buffet lunches quickly finished, glasses emptied and its off for a wonderful family day together.   The following morning breakfast is great fun. Stories swapped. Photos shared. Phone calls made to meet up for lunch or to go for a walk in the beautiful forest. New friends made. Old aquaintences renewed. Family members caught up.   … Continue reading →

Three beautiful new foals arrived in Brockenhurst last week. These cheeky little donkeys can be seen in and around the village with their mums and aunties, showing off to the tourists. Their favourite trick is to try and find their way into the vegetable section of Tescos or to make their way into the Village Veg shop. Posing for their adoring fans the donkeys are the newest arrivals in the beautiful New Forest village of Brockenhurst. The donkey foals arrived a few weeks after the pony foals. There are 5,000 mares out on the forest. They don’t all have a foal every year but enough of them do to make it very exciting in late May and early June. This year a new foal was born right outside the Cottage Lodge at breakfast time. It was a very exciting morning. … Continue reading →

The New Forest Show starts today in glorious sunshine, with an expected 90,000 visitors. The New Forest Show is one of the UK’s largest rural shows. ‘You can try your hand at milking a cow, hold a day old baby chick, take part in a tug of war with a tractor and watch the spectacular Household Cavalry’s dynamic display in the main ring’ according to the New Forest Show literature.   There is no doubt that the three day event (28th – 30th July) is amazing. The planning takes all year. Marquees start going up in early July. Animals are groomed to perfection. Vegetables are nurtured for the big day. Posh frocks come out of the cupboard for the members enclosure, and diaries are adjusted so everyone can go to the show.   It showcases the very best of The … Continue reading →

The New Forest Tour bus has now started for the summer and you can catch them from outside or near the Cottage Lodge Hotel. The New Forest Tour Take an open top safari on the New Forest Tour – enjoy grandstand views of the New Forest National Park, wandering ponies, pretty villages and magical landscapes. Hop on and hop off wherever you like and catch the next Tour or switch between routes – all on the same ticket. Hear the stories of the people, places and animals of the New Forest from the on-board commentary – with characters, sounds and music that bring the forest to life. The New Forest is served by a public bus network, which provides the opportunity to travel around the area by bus. Bluestar – Southampton 023 8061 8233 Wilts & Dorset – Salisbury 01722 … Continue reading →

Cottage Lodge is delighted to announce a 10% discount for three nights or more, mid-week from 7th September to 23rd October 2015. Sunday to Thursday nights in the late summer early autumn are a great time to see the New Forest. Have a quick look on our bookings page to see if there are any dates  that suit you to visit. You will need to ring us to redeem this special offer. In September and October the weather is generally warm, ponies are just putting on their autumn coats, the bracken is beginning to don their autumnal colours ready for the magnificant show ahead. Once the acorns start dropping the pigs go out on the forest. Acorns are poisonous to ponies. But, the 5000 mares on the forest and their foals don’t know this. So they munch on them whenever … Continue reading →

It is with great pleasure and pride that Cottage Lodge New Forest Hotel takes over the chair of the New Forest Tourism Association Hotels Pubs Inns and Restaurant Group with Elmers Court and The New Forest Hotels Group. The wonderful thing about having an association where all the owners and managing directors of the hotels, pubs, inns and restaurants  in the New Forest have the chance to get together is that we can focus on specific areas. One of the roles of the New Forest Tourism Hotels Association and PIR group members is to provide forest visitors with information to help preserve our beautiful landscape. The New Forest is a wonderful and unique environment. It is important that we all take care of it by offering visitors the opportunity to love the forest. Simple things like closing gates, keeping dogs … Continue reading →