Travel: The New Forest
Crunching through fallen leaves is an autumn pleasure matched only by following all that exercise with gourmet dining! A just-won Michelin star makes the Montagu Arms Hotel at Beaulieu the place for both.
Essential English style creates an easy couple’s getaway at this 18th-century inn, with oak panelling and crackling fires in 22 bedrooms, many with four-posters.
Autumn is the feisty rutting season for fallow deer (visit the Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary for the best viewing) and the time when “drifts” of New Forest ponies are rounded up and counted. Buy forest honey and Loosehanger blue cheese at local producers’ markets (newforestproduce.com). Follow a trail of flaming Japanese maples at Exbury Gardens (from 10 October; exbury.co.uk).
From £130pp dinner, B&B. Call 01590-624467 or visit montaguarmshotel.co.uk
Find out more: thenewforest.co.uk
