Jackie got up early and went to her belly dancing class. Ray and I had a leisurely breakfast, read the local paper, and after Jacky got home we all set off for The New Forest. The New Forest is a large area of woodland, meadow, and heath, which was first discovered by William The Conqueror (King William II) in 1079. Since then it has been a “royal playground” for the hunting of deer. It became a National Park in 2005. For me, the main attraction of the New Forest was to see the New Forest Ponies. It is something I have wanted to do since I learned to ride when I was a child growing up in Edinburgh. The ponies have developed over the years into a hardy, surefooted and easy to train pony. They are owned by practising commoners, i.e. people who exercise their Right of Common of Pasture, which is an ancient right that attaches to certain lands. These people pay an annual “marking fee” which helps pay for the people who look after the ponies – the agisters and the Verderers (http://www.newforestcommoners.co.uk/). The ponies roam freely over the park and we saw them by the side of the roads, in large open areas, and even among the trees when we went on a one and a half walk through the forest. There are also many deer which we also saw on their own dotted among the woodland, and in a large herd of about 20 deer. It was a fabulous afternoon walking and driving through a beautiful part of the English countryside. The small towns in The New Forest are quite picturesque and really charming. We particularly enjoyed Brockenhurst where we saw the ponies on the High Street! Lymington was another special coastal town with its Georgian High Street and pretty cobbled streets leading to the Quay. There we watched elegant yachts and salty fishing boats coming and going.
We got home around 7 p.m. Jackie made a delicious pasta dinner and we headed off to bed around 11:30 p.m.
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