Fordingbridge

Fordingbridge is a small town in Hampshire, on the northwestern edge of the New Forest National Park. The town itself is mostly known for its 13th-century bridge over the River Avon, but the nearby villages of Breamore and Rockbourne each have sights of their own, from the remains of a 2000-year old mansion, to a fascinating agricultural museum. Meanwhile, the surrounding countryside of farmland and forest offers some great outdoor pursuits, chief among them fishing, riding and watersports.

Understand
The River Avon that flows through these parts is not the same river that Shakespeare's Stratford is upon, nor is it the one that goes through Bath and Bristol. Avon is in fact a Celtic word meaning "river", but the irony of naming several watercourses in their newly-conquered country "River River" was lost on the Anglo-Saxons. This Avon rises in the Wiltshire downs, flows lazily past Stonehenge and south through Salisbury to Fordingbridge, from where it meanders on to meet the sea near Christchurch. It is a quintessential southern English chalk stream, with water clear as glass and high numbers of fish, particularly brown trout, pike and perch.

There has been a crossing over the Avon here in the form of a ford or a bridge for longer than the records go back, but the current seven-arched stone Great Bridge was built in the 13th century, and widened and reinforced in the 19th. The bridge was once an important access point to the New Forest, so much so that the lord of the manor was for many centuries charged with ensuring no poachers smuggled game out of the forest by means of the bridge. People caught poaching were liable to lose a hand or be blinded.

The celebrated Welsh portrait artist Augustus John lived in Fordingbridge for over 30 years until his death in 1961. The polyamorous John fathered at least seven children, and it is said that even as an old man he used to affectionately pat the head of every Fordingbridge kid he passed, just in case. Evidently he still inspires a good deal of local pride, as not only have they erected a statue to him, they've also named a pub and even a whole new neighbourhood after him.

Fordingbridge is a typical small Hampshire town, with a population of around 6,000. It was a market town in the medieval era, but those days of regional importance are far behind it. The laidback town centre is not especially lovely, but there are some old buildings of note such as the parish church and an Art Deco cinema. Most of the shops are independents rather than chains, making Fordingbridge a good place to shop for local produce.

North of Fordingbridge, two outlying parishes covered by this article are definitely worth your time: Breamore has a Tudor mansion with several attractions on its estate; Rockbourne is an idyllic village that's home to an excavated Roman villa.

Get in
On the northwestern edge of the New Forest and very close to the borders with Dorset and Wiltshire, Fordingbridge is 12 miles south of the cathedral city of Salisbury.

By car
By far the best means of reaching Fordingbridge, not least because most of the area's attractions are out of the town. The A338 Salisbury to Bournemouth road passes just to the east of the town centre. At Ringwood, 6 miles further south, the road meets the A31 trunk road, which handles most traffic from Southampton, Dorchester and London.

The main can be accessed via (and is signposted from) Shaftesbury Street. For satnavs, use the postcode "SP6 1AQ".

By public transport
Fordingbridge lost its railway line in the 1960s, and the nearest station is now at Salisbury, which receives trains from towns and cities across southern Britain, including London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. See Salisbury#By train for more details.

The Salisbury Reds bus service X3 runs from Salisbury's main square to Bournemouth via Fordingbridge and Ringwood. Adult fares are around £5 for a single and £7.50 for a return; pay by cash or contactless. The bus runs every 30 min for most of M-Sa; an hourly service operates before 9AM and after 7PM on these days, and all day on Su and public holidays. Journey times are: from Salisbury 25 min; from Ringwood 15 min; from Bournemouth 1 hr. Drop-off and pick-up at Fordingbridge is at the on Salisbury Street, two minutes' walk from the information centre and museum.

On foot
The Avon Valley Path is a 34-mile (55-km) trail linking Salisbury to Christchurch via Fordingbridge, broadly following the River Avon through pretty Hampshire and Wiltshire countryside.

Get around
Fordingbridge is a small town that any able-bodied person can comfortably navigate on foot.

If you're visiting attractions in the surrounding area, you need your own motorised transport as aside from the X3 bus, there's no local public transport to speak of. Even the New Forest's famously dense warren of cycling trails seems to have almost completely bypassed Fordingbridge; the few cycle routes that exist aren't segregated from road traffic.



See
The town of Fordingbridge will likely only take half a day at most to explore, but the nearby villages of Breamore and Rockbourne each merit their own side trips.

Fordingbridge








Breamore
Breamore (say "Bremmer") is 3 miles north of Fordingbridge, on the A338 Salisbury Road whose traffic rather spoils this otherwise attractive village's atmosphere. However, while there are undoubtedly some pretty cottages and a set of stocks to photograph as you pass through, the main attractions here are north-west of the village proper, on the estate of Breamore House. By car, follow the brown signs from the main road, or by bus the X3 drops you by the village hall, about a mile's walk from the house.





Rockbourne
north-west of Fordingbridge, the prosperous village of Rockbourne makes a pleasant half-day trip. The archaeological remains of a Roman villa are the main attraction, and are reached just before the village on a drive from Fordingbridge via Station Road and Rockbourne Road.

The villa and museum will take no more than an hour or two, but it would be a shame to leave without seeing the charming village, best accomplished on foot. A walk from the villa car park up the lane to the brilliant Rose and Thistle pub (see below) is a mile each way and allows you to see the best of Rockbourne's thatched brick-and-timber cottages and well-tended gardens. Running parallel to a chalk stream called Sweatfords Water, the lane is very quiet with little traffic, which is just as well because there's no pedestrian path. If fly fishing is more your thing, a few hours at Rockbourne Trout Fishery (downstream on Sweatfords Water, see below) may be just the ticket.

Elsewhere

 * Alderholt Mill on Sandleheath Rd has been restored and also has B&B accommodation, see Sleep.

Do
Thanks to its proximity to the New Forest National Park, there is a lot of outdoor space in and around Fordingbridge and a variety of activities to suit most interests.

Further afield








Events




Buy
Fordingbridge is no retail paradise, but its small high street has managed to conserve a number of interesting independent stores. One success story is the number of shops selling local food and drink produce.

Supermarkets
There are no large supermarkets in Fordingbridge, but two small branches of national chains:





For a bigger shop, Ringwood has full-sized Lidl, Sainsbury's and Waitrose stores.

Eat and drink
Ultra-local Fordingbridge fudge, made in town with milk and butter from a herd of Guernseys who graze on pastures less than a mile away, is a traditional treat to sample while here. The classic flavours are butter and vanilla, but for something a bit more special, try the chocolate orange, or else the New Forest honey and cream. Buy it from Gourmet Grocer, Hockey's Farm Shop or the kiosk in the Riverside Park.

Every pub in the area serves food, though their kitchens mostly close at 9PM.

Breamore

 * Breamore House Tea Barn, in the grounds of Breamore House, a manor house dating back to the 16th century.
 * Breamore House Tea Barn, in the grounds of Breamore House, a manor house dating back to the 16th century.

Sleep
The main forms of accommodation in the area are self-catering holiday lets and campsites. There are no large hotels in Fordingbridge (you'll find a Premier Inn in Ringwood), but a handful of small-scale operations may be of interest:

Camping




Phone
Two area codes for landline phone numbers cover the area. Fordingbridge's is 01425 (+44 1425 from outside the UK), and Rockbourne's is 01725 (+44 1725); Breamore is split between the two areas.

New Forest

 * Brockenhurst - a woodland town that's home to the annual New Forest show
 * Burley - a New Forest village with a new age/witchy atmosphere
 * Lyndhurst - the ever-popular tourism capital of the forest
 * Ringwood - market town with several parks and nature reserves on its doorstep

Further afield

 * Bournemouth - a large seaside resort with seven golden miles of sandy beach and a vibrant nightlife
 * Christchurch - Bournemouth's quieter and more genteel eastern neighbour has beaches and a natural harbour
 * Salisbury - a cathedral city with the best-preserved of only four original copies of the Magna Carta
 * Wimborne Minster - home to a rare chained library and a one-tenth scale model town