We spent a delightful week with a close friend near Lymington, touring around this part of southern England,
which includes the New Forest National Park, one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land,
heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south. The area includes south-west Hampshire and extends into
south-east Wiltshire and towards east Dorset.

The New Forest was created as a royal forest by William I around 1079, for the royal hunt, mainly of deer.
Although it was a royal preserve, common rights for local inhabitants to graze their cattle and horses predated
William I, but it wasn't until 1698 that these rights were confirmed by statute. The common rights are attached
to particular plots of land, and many of the local inhabitants still exercise their rights, particularly in
regard to the New Forest ponies, for which the region is famous.