A nice, compact museum that gave an overview of the history of the New Forest, dating back many hundreds of years, detailing land right traditions and suchlike, and a feel for the contemporary lifestyles of people living in the area. We also stopped at the cafe for a coffee and cake - the lattes were large and creamy, with the beans clearly being of high quality, and the cake was an equal match. The best we had in the New Forest during our stay.
Lovely museum with interesting exibits, it was free which provided an excellent opportunity for my children to learn, however, we were very disappointed to learn that the horses pictured were not real, but statues. This scared them a little, especially the scary man with the axe! We liked sorting animal droppings to tracks, however, we’re sad that the tree the activity was in was not real, but fake. Beautiful cafe.
Wonderful place to visit. Great little gift shop and cafe. The staff were wonderful and helpful also. The museum was particularly enjoyable, our 8,6 &4 year old loved it. You have to try and slow them down a bit so they don’t plough through it in 5 mins but if you stop to read everything then it takes a while. Definitely worth popping in.
Lovely lady serving coffee, very friendly :) coffee was good too!
Wow, lemon drizzle outstanding and proper good tasting coffee...not the milky wishy wasn't stuff from the usual places.
Lovely furniture, I can't fault it, I've tried...
Interesting and informative learnt we learned lots about the nature and people who lived there. The embroidery on the first floor is amazing. Handy to visit with the public car park adjacent and public conveniences next door. Also great that it is dog friendly.
What a fantastic little hub in the heart of the forest!
Plenty to look at and free to go in. You can donate money through an NFC system, too.
The shop is really lovely with some wonderful things for absolutely everyone and the staff were incredibly helpful and friendly.
Reading previous reviews on "scary" displays, I must admit this museum highlights the HISTORY of the new forest.
It is realistic to what the past was and if some people find that offensive or scary I think a blindfold in those areas may help.
Just don't walk the wrong way or the scary man with an axe may chase you! 🤣
There is a gift shop, small museum and cafe. On arrival asked to use the hand sanitiser that they provide. The gift shop has many souvenirs if you come on holiday (like I did) and all were reasonably priced. Museum was very good to learn about the local history. Did not order anything from the cafe but looked clean and tidy.
Visited the centre as part of a Camp with a Cub Scout Group from Eastleigh.
We arranged for a education session with the centre and was absolutely amazed with the effort and dedication from all of the staff who supported us with all aspects of our visit (in particular Hannah, Hayley and Mel).
The session was very informative, interactive and engaging and was aimed and planned perfectly for the age range and was suitable for those young people with SEN.
We highly recommend this to any one who was thinking of doing the same with other youth, school or education groups.
Go upstairs for the forest needlepoint. Interesting. Free admission.
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