Things To Do in The New Forest

A Rare Visit to a Rothschild Garden -- Unknown to the average visitor to the New Forest, you can explore the private gardens of Edmund and Anne de Rothschild. Exbury Gardens in the New Forest (tel. 023/8089-1203; www.exbury.co.uk) is open to the public from mid-March to early November daily 10am to 5:30pm. The highest admission is charged during the summer. Entry £8 for adults, £7.50 for seniors and students, and costs £1.50 at all times for ages 3 to 15, with a family ticket costing £19. The 81-hectare (200-acre) garden is celebrated for the Rothschild collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias, a blooming riot of color in spring. But any season is a delight here, including the flowering displays in summer or the autumnal colors of the maples and deciduous azaleas. Part of the gardens can be toured on a 12 1/4-gauge Steam Railway, costing £3.50 per person.