Our first trip after the 2020 summer of social distancing and lockdowns was to the New Forest, staying at Daisybank Cottage, a delightful Arts and Crafts B & B on the edge of Brockenhurst. It was a slightly odd experience, hardly surprising in the circumstances, but we enjoyed ourselves very much. This time we stayed in a room named after the cottage’s architect, Charles Brightiff, a Charles Rennie Mackintosh devotee.
No matter how many times I looked at the weather app Thursday looked like a washout for walking so we checked into Daisybank as early as we could on Wednesday and took ourselves off for a walk over moorland bright with patches of purple heather.
Thanks to some friends we did have a plan for Thursday which was as wet and chilly as promised. The Russell-Cotes in Bournemouth is the kind of slightly bonkers museum I love. Housed in the mansion Merton Russell-Cotes gave his wife Annie for her sixty-sixth birthday, raising the bar rather high for her sixty-seventh, it’s home to an eclectic collection of artifacts accumulated over their travels around the world. The collection itself would have been impressive enough but it’s the house that’s the
main attraction, decorated in a wonderfully eccentric style including a Moorish alcove, painted ceilings, frescoed walls and stained-glass roofs. A great way to spend a wet holiday morning. The views out over the bay must be splendid when the sun’s out.
Lovely walking weather on Friday morning so that’s what we did, spotting lots of ponies grazing who’d probably spent Thursday sheltering stoically under the trees. In the afternoon we reprised our trip to pretty seaside Lymington, much busier than the last time we were there, where there’s still no independent bookshop but Waterstones came up trumps.
We headed home on Saturday after an enjoyable, refreshing break, just right for the turn of the season, summed up in that last shot of honeysuckle and hawthorn berries. Mischief was a wee bit standoffish when we arrived but soon recovered herself as the clock ticked down to feeding time.
And the book? I’d just started Calla Henkel’s Other People’s Clothes, set in 2008, featuring two New York art students spending a year in Berlin who find themselves living in a palatial, if chilly, apartment owned by a bestselling author. As they set about serous partying, one trying to get over the murder of her best friend, the other obsessed with Amanda Knox, they both become convinced they’re being watched. Enjoyable enough but it failed to live up to the breathlessly ecstatic puffs on the cover for me.
The Russell-Cotes has for a long time been vaguely on my must-visit list, but it had slightly fallen off (aka been forgotten about). It’s firmly back on again. You seem to have made the most of your trip, disappointing book notwithstanding.
Highly recommend it, and on a fine day it would have been even better. We did so the book disappointment didn’t matter much.
Not been to The New Forest in a while, lovely with all the ponies.
We also saw a donkey with her foal who was too shy for a photo.
What a shame you didn’t stay for another couple of days, or even another week. Summer has finally arrived.
I know! Bad timing.
Love the New Forest! It looks like you planned very cleverly. I’ve had relatives in Bournemouth for years but have never been to the Russell-Cotes or even heard of it! It looks delightfully mad.
Such a lovely part of the world. The ponies and donkeys are an added joy! I’d not come across the Russell-Cotes before. Definitely bonkers but in a very enjoyable way. Hope you can fit in a visit.
The Russell Cotes looks really lovely! Always good to have something like that planned for the inevitable wet days.
Absolutely! We were so lucky that our friends mentioned it on the Monday before we left.
How lovely! I go to Brockenhurst most Decembers but we’ve never been to the Russell-Cotes, I’ll suggest it.
That sounds the perfect time of the year to visit! Only about a thirty minute drive from Brockenhurst and I’m sure there’s a regular train service.
We love the New Forest and the ponies. My husband grew up in that area. I’d never heard of the museum, though!
Aren’t they lovely? Kings and queens of the road, too. The museum is just on the edge of Bournemouth, handy for a wet day.
The Russell-Cotes looks lovely, though I think I’d have loved the ponies and spending time outdoors just that little bit more. Looks a great holiday!
It was a lovely break despite the rain thanks to the Russell-Cotes. I was desperate to get a shot of the donkey foal we spotted on Friday evening but it was too shy so we left it in peace.
That would have been lovely but not worth disturbing him for. Once when my parents went on holiday, I had them drop one stop on their itinerary in favour of the local donkey sanctuary
They are irresistible!
What a lovely place to stay – the New Forest is lovely!!
I’m very fond of it. So many great walks and pretty villages.
I always enjoy your travel posts.
I had Other People’s Clothes on my ‘maybe’ list – you’ve saved me some reading!
Thank you, and you’re welcome! It really went off the rails at the end.
Well this sounds like a lovely break, even if the weather wasn’t all it could have been. I love your photos.
Thank you. We really enjoyed it. Always a treat to see the ponies.
If you’re definitely planning to go, see if you can book a garden tour with my actual cousin, Phil! I don’t know if he does them in the winter but it’s worth checking!
It’s definitely worth revisiting on a drier day.
How lovely! My cousin Phil is the head gardener at the The Russell-Cotes and he does garden tours there which are well worth it (well, we had a private one from him). I haven’t been inside yet but plan to next time.
No watering necessary for him last Thursday! We did have a quick look at the garden which looked inviting despite the weather. The inside’s well worth exploring.
A lovely part of the world! I grew up in Southampton, so we often went to the Forest at the weekends – or to Bournemouth in the summer if the weather was nice. I’m glad you had an enjoyable trip!
Thank you, Jacqui. A lovely place for childhood holidays!