Fordingbridge Voyage Tips and guide

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.

Tourist information

50.9283-1.78961 Fordingbridge Information Office, Kings Yard, 23 Salisbury Street, SP6 1AB, ☏ +44 1425 654560, [email protected]. M-F 10AM-4PM. Tourist information, fishing permits and internet access. (updated Dec 2020)

Get in

On the northwestern edge of the New Forest and very close to the borders with Dorset and Wiltshire, Fordingbridge is 12 miles (19 km) south of the cathedral city of Salisbury.

50°55′39″N 1°47′24″W

Map of Fordingbridge

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 (9.7 km) further south, the road meets the A31 trunk road, which handles most traffic from Southampton, Dorchester and London.

The main 50.9277-1.79191 car park 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 50.9285-1.78872 Post Office bus stop on Salisbury Street, two minutes' walk from the information centre and museum.

On foot

The Avon Valley Path^{[dead link]} 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 .

Express Cars Fordingbridge, ☏ +44 1425 650000. Private hire taxis, the only firm in town. (updated Apr 2021)

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

50.9272-1.78891 Great Bridge, Bridge Street, SP6 1AH. One of only two bridges in the UK with seven arches, this is a pretty spot to take in the river. If the constant stream of traffic puts you off, you can get a more peaceful view of the ancient crossing from Riverside Park. (updated Feb 2021)

50.9273-1.7892 Augustus John Statue, Bridge Street, SP6 1AH (on the right river bank, just north of the bridge). Grade II-listed bronze sculpture of the Fordingbridge artist, by Ivor Roberts-Jones. In contrast to many overidealised memorial statues, John is depicted as rather showing his age, looking unsteady on his feet, albeit still brimming with passion and something akin to defiance. (updated Dec 2020)

50.928434-1.7901133 Fordingbridge Museum, King’s Yard, Salisbury Street, SP6 1AB (next to the tourist office), ☏ +44 1425 655222, [email protected]. Easter-Halloween M-Sa 11AM-4PM. Volunteer-run museum which, over two floors of a former granary, packs in displays on almost every aspect of local life and history you could think of: small businesses, archive photos, Augustus John, town life during the Victorian and wartime eras, the local footie club... Free, donations welcome. (updated Dec 2020)

50.9208-1.795094 St Mary's Church, Fordingbridge, Church Street, SP6 1BB, ☏ +44 1425 653163, [email protected]. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, Anglo-Saxon St Mary's was rebuilt from circa 1150 until 1230 by the Normans. It's attractive, if fairly typical of rural churches in the region, with the main historical interest being two memorials: one to Charles Chubb, the locksmith and safe manufacturer; the other to James Seton, a young man whose sad claim to fame is for being the last person to be killed in a duel on English soil, in 1845. (updated Dec 2020)

Breamore

Breamore (say "Bremmer") is 3 miles (4.8 km) 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.

50.9705-1.78395 Breamore House, SP6 2DF, ☏ +44 1725 512858, [email protected]. Apr and Oct: Tu, Su noon-5:30PM; May-Sep: Tu-Th Su noon-5:30PM; and open bank holidays throughout the year. An Elizabethan (late 16th century) manor house with very fine period furniture, paintings, and tapestries. Each of the main rooms is seemingly frozen in a particular era, from the Tudor great hall and bedrooms, to the Stuart dining room and Regency-era drawing rooms. The house was built on the site of an Augustinian monastery, a victim of the Reformation, and has been in the hands of the Hulse family for nine generations. The ground floor is accessible to wheelchair users. Adult £9.50, senior £8, child (5-15 years) £6, under 5 free. (updated Dec 2020)

50.9693-1.78326 St Mary's Church, Breamore, ☏ +44 1425 653163, [email protected]. A handsome flint church whose external architecture has scarcely been altered since the 10th century, having survived a millennium during which almost every other Saxon church in the country was extensively modified by successive generations of 'improvers' who thought they knew better. The insides were messed with a bit more, yet many of the original features remain. Look out for an exceedingly rare example of a surviving Old English inscription, above a sturdy arched doorway, along with an equally old and rare 'rood' (depiction of Jesus on the cross) and other ancient wall paintings. It's no exaggeration to say that this is one of England's most historically important churches. Free. (updated Dec 2020)

50.9673-1.78497 Countryside Museum. Open same days as house, 1-5PM. The comprehensive collection of steam-powered farm machinery, including a gorgeous red traction engine called "The Dreadnought", is just the start. This museum brings Breamore life as it was 100+ years ago into the present day with a replica farm worker's cottage, and faithful recreations of numerous village amenities: the schoolroom, smithy, dairy, brewery, the wheelwright's shop, the saddler's shop, a laundry... Fully accessible to wheelchair users. Included in entry to Breamore House, or if just visiting museum: adult £4, senior £3.50, child (5-15 years) £3, under 5 free. (updated Dec 2020)

50.9816-1.800158 Breamore Mizmaze (1 mi (1.6 km) on foot from house. Walk left of the clock tower, enter the woods and climb uphill until you reach the top, bear left through a clump of yew trees and you'll see the maze.). Accessible daily, during daylight hours. A medieval turf maze in a grove of yew trees atop Breamore Down, one of only two surviving examples in England. Composed of concentric rings which lead to the centre and bisected by a Christian cross, it is believed to have been created by the monks of Breamore Priory, who apparently crawled to the middle on their knees while praying as penitence. The maze is fenced off, so you can't try it out, but you can see all of it and the hike to get there offers some fab views over the countryside. Free - not necessary to purchase entry to the estate. (updated Dec 2020)

Rockbourne

4 mi (6.4 km) 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.

50.9526-1.830659 Rockbourne Roman Villa, Rockbourne Road, SP6 3PG, ☏ +44 1725 518541, [email protected]. This luxurious courtyard villa was built during the first five centuries of the common era, and subsequently vanished beneath the earth before being rediscovered by a farmer's dog in 1942. The few visible remains include an excavated portion of hypocaust and some wonderfully-preserved mosaic. The adjacent museum houses other Roman objects discovered at the villa and in the local area: tools, pottery, a hoard of coins, a mysterious skeleton, and two 3rd-century milestones with Latin inscription. Kids can make their own mosaic and dress up as a centurion. On-site café and picnic area. Adult £4.50, concession £3.50, child (5-15 years) £2.25, under 5 free. (updated Feb 2021)

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.