Lyndhurst 

Any visitor planning to explore The New Forest must make Lyndhurst the first stop. A perfect base and a place to gather inspiration, make sure you stop into the New Forest Museum and Visitor Centre before you get going.

Bolton's Bench is parkland where ponies and cattle roam freely, and in the summer months is busy with families having picnics and kids playing.

• The forest's most visited site, the Rufus Stone, is just three miles from Lyndhurst and marks the spot where William II (often known as William Rufus) was killed by a crossbow bolt in 1100.