having been born and bred on the Isle of Wight, I thought it quite odd that I never had visited the New Forest! Its a huge area of National Park land on the south coast, just a short hop over the water from good ol'Wighty. So, we chucked our stuff in the car and went in search of some sun {ANY sun!} for our first wedding anniversary weekend.

I loved the damp green velvety moss all over the trees and the ground, the huge tall pine trees and of course, the wild horses that roam about freely in the woods and heathland areas. Within the park lies some towns and villages, and quite astonishingly, those horses are free to walk down the middle of the roads, into the villages, eating anything in their paths, we saw one big old horse standing head on to a car coming the other way, looking as though it was going to charge at it, its all very amusing. Lots of foals too which are unbelievably cute!

one day we took our camping stove and various pickles and cheeses to a steam in the woods and had ourselves a very fine luncheon.

we were staying at a campsite right in the middle of the woods, on a farm. It was horrendously full, but we found a spot at the bottom field right opposite a pond, which was lovely.

as a treat, I splashed out on some new sleeping bags, I hate that sweaty nylon feel of our old bags. These are from Anorak, 100% cotton, made in Britain! mine has seagulls on it, and Nao's has stags.

a nice bbq and a rest in front of the pond, looovelllyyy.

next day was our anniversary, one whole year of being a Mr. and a Mrs. {accept of course I'm a Ms.!}

we had lots to ponder about, but i have to say that being married is very nice indeed and highly recommended!

I made Nao a card in the few minutes before we left for our trip, it leaves little to be desired but its the thought that counts, right?

and Nao made me a ring! a little Laurel Leaf carved ring of 18ct white gold. It is the same design as his wedding ring. He also lined an antique ring box with Liberty print fabric, amazing!

after packing up we went down to Lymington which I am fairly familiar with as it has a car-ferry connection to the Isle of Wight. But we went on a Puffin Cruise, a small boat which takes people out onto the Solent. We wanted to go on a long trip to see the Needles lighthouse but it was cancelled, so we went for a quick trip to the Solent and back anyways...

the sky was grey and spectacular.

back at the harbour, we had a drink and sat on the harbour wall and admired the locals...

lots of crab fishing going on!

after inspecting every campsite in the Forest, we ended up going back to the original one seeing as we had already paid for it, it was very busy and tightly packed, but we managed to have a very lovely evening in fact!

We ate asparagus and shitake mushrooms, {asparagus make my wee smell really odd, is it just me?}.

Nao washed his hair in a bowl, and I helped.

going back home, we met some more locals who seemed to think the roads are there for them...

we stopped by Beaulieu and had a nap in a meadow and fed some horses...

and then back to London, ACCEPT we made a de-tour to west-sussex where we also broke down! But thats another story {which i will tell you later on!}.

we set up our camp, there were just a couple of other people there, and lit the fire and got on with the cooking.

in the morning we were awoken by a peacock, and some strange clucking noises which I never thought could be from an animal. I unzipped the tent and found these cute spotty birds roaming around the field!

I have since found out these are Guinea-fowl. Waaaaaay to lovely to eat surely?

And how amazing is our neighbours tent and bunting!

you can never be 100% on holiday when you run your own business, so Nao bought his office too...sending emails to Tokyo.

our new teapot...

and bathroom...

the next day we went to Lulworth cove, we went there before{see this post for more pics of Lulworth}.

We bought a blow-up dingy, and we rowed all the way around the cove, and then again to get ice cream & crisps. We had a picnic on board!

i did most of the rowing because Nao did the driving.

on the way back to the campsite, we had a look at the tiny village we were staying in, it was just like a time warp. We bought some pickled onions, nectarine & plum jams and some sweet peas by the roadside.

the facilities at the campsite were quite amusing...

but just our style!

a romantic mushroom...

we went for a little wander through the farm we were staying on, intrigued by the exotic bird sounds and harvesting of sweetpea flowers.

there were more toilets and showers in old pig sheds.

and lovely old greenhouses, a magical place indeed, I was very curious as to what goes on here and who would own such a place?

I bumped into the peacock,  and followed him...

...and he led me to more delights!

a tiny old garden nursery in full operation, but nobody around...hmm...

well, the next day we met the owner, a 70 or so year old gentleman, who told us about his passion for growing plants and the birds he keeps. He has parrots and budgies and love birds and all sorts. he said when the peacock does his display by his enclosure around teatime, the parrot opposite tries to do it too!

An extraordinary gent, and such a beautiful and magical mess of a place he has! It was like something out of a  story book. {but dont ask me where this campsite is because it is a secret, sorry!}

in the morning we went off to Chesil beach near Weymouth. It was extremely windy and cold, so after a quick look, we went on to a more sheltered beach instead.

Ringstead...

after a lovely peaceful evening, a horrendous monsoon fell upon us! I have never heard rain so loud but we were all snug and dry in our tent. We had a tea and breakfast indoors before working out how we are going to pack up everything in the pouring rain!