Breamore House and Countryside Museum

Breamore House - Elizabethan splendour

Overlooking the Avon Valley on the edge of the New Forest a little to the north of Fordingbridge, construction of Breamore House was completed in 1583 and has changed little in the intervening years.

Open to visitors each year from April until the end of October, on display can be seen paintings, tapestries, porcelain, 17th Century needlework, a rare James 1 carpet and fine examples of period furniture.

The associated Countryside Museum features a replica blacksmith's shop, village shop, school and dairy; and a collection of steam powered farm machinery, tractors, barn machinery and historical tools.

Nearby, the Parish Church of St. Mary boasts features dating back to Saxon times - it is one of the oldest churches in Hampshire - whilst a public footpath running from the edge of the churchyard snakes across Breamore Park and offers the prospect of a pleasant, easy to manage stroll.

And for the more energetic, another public footpath runs through the grounds of Breamore House and uphill through Breamore Wood, past the Mizmaze and on to the chalk downs beyond.

(There is more information about Breamore here - Breamore).