Exbury Gardens is a 200-acre informal woodland garden in the village of Exbury in the New Forest. It sits across the river from Bucklers Hard. It has a large collections of rhododendrons, azaleas and camellias, and is often considered the finest garden of its type in the United Kingdom. Spring is a great time to visit as the rhododendrons and azaleas are in full bloom. We weren’t the only folks to think that as the Car parks were very busy. However, due to the scale of the gardens, it never felt particularly crowded.

Exbury House (in the picture below) is privately owned and not open for visitors.

From Wikipedia:

Features include the Hydrangea Walk, the Rock Garden, Iris Garden, the Sundial Garden, Centenary Garden and Camellia Walk (which takes visitors to a path alongside Beaulieu river and back via the pond).The infrastructure included a water tower, three large concrete lined ponds, and 22 miles (35 km) of underground piping. Exbury Gardens is now open to the public for most of the year, with high seasons in the spring for the flowering shrubs and the autumn for the autumn colour.

Nobody knows why the side shoots of this Oriental Plane (there are three of them) have taken on these strange contorted shapes. The Mother tree – standing in the middle – is almost hollow, yet perfectly healthy with a root system that not only supports itself but also its wiggly offspring.

There are a series of cascading pools and a viewpoint across the river.

More pictures are in the gallery below. Click on an image if you wish to see the full detail.

The next day we were back on the bikes for a visit to the Trusted Servant Inn for lunch.

We will probably head out on the bikes again tomorrow and then its time to pack everything away and head back to the delights of East Devon.

With some great weather in the short to medium term weather forecast, last Thursday we hitched up the caravan and headed to a Caravan and Motorhome campsite in the New Forest. Our preferred site is the one at Black Knowl, close to Brockenhurst and in the heart of the Forest itself. This wasn’t a particularly spontaneous trip because being one of the most popular sites in the CAMC network, we had booked our stay sometime last year. It’s also not the cheapest of sites with the current price close to £50 per night for a “standard” pitch.

The journey from East Devon was an un-eventful 3.5hrs and our journey took us along the south coast from East Devon – Honiton – Charmouth – Bridport – Dorchester – Ringwood – Cadnam and then south to Brockenhurst.

By Thursday evening we were fully pitched and enjoyed tea in the sunshine.

The clear skies continued through the evening.

We think spring is the best time to explore the New Forest. Bluebells adorn the woodland floors, the Rhodedendra and Azaleas are in full bloom and of course, during this heatwave, all the new-born foals and calves are enjoying an un-seasonally warm and dry spring.

Saturday we headed out on the bikes along a disused railway line to Wootton Bridge where the stream was a popular destination for picnics and generally cooling off in the water.

Sunday we headed into Brockenhurst and noticed an RHS Open garden close to the centre of the town. Wiled away an hour or two there and got some inspiration on what to replace our arch with at home. (NB The inspiration isn’t related to the “Pergola” below!).

On Monday, Chris and Alison arrived from Hayling Island for a day of relaxation. Alison and Moe visited Lymington for a spot of shopping whilst Chris and I chatted about (amongst other things) motorhomes – in particular the one they are picking up next Tuesday, and the excuse they used for not staying with us at the campsite! Meanwhile, I had Motorhome envy when this Hymer Crossover parked up in an adjacent pitch.

Now, if I could ever be tempted with a Motorhome – this might well be it!

Tuesday we were back on the bikes for a loop around Lyndhurst. This time I used MapMyRide to track the trip and I think I prefer the map and summary to that available on Fitbit. For what it’s worth, this will be my last Fitbit tracker. Google have totally messed up the Fitbit brand and apps.