Less than a mile out of Lyndhurst on the main Christchurch road you'll find Swan Green on your right. They play cricket here in the summer - and in front of the green is a thatched cotteg you'll recognise from pictures on plenty of calendars. Up the steep hill between green and cottage and over the brow you come across the New Forest Inn.

The New Forest Inn has several bars and a shady garden, catering for walkers and cyclists and anyone else wanting a drink and a meal during a day in the forest.

My suggested walk from here takes you back to Swan Green and then through oak and beech woods around Lyndhurst.