My first time visiting the New Forest definitely didn’t disappoint!
It’s literally the cutest place with animals roaming free 🐴
We stayed at the cutest B&B in Lyndhurst ‘Rosendale B&B’ which I would recommend to anyone! The location is perfect, you can literally walk out the back garden & you’re in the centre of Lyndhurst 🌳 it’s also so affordable, we paid £90 for one night which included breakfast 🥞
The host, Jenny was SO lovely! I let her know my intolerances beforehand & she made sure she had all gluten free options for me for breakfast; cereal/bread/cooked breakfast 🍳 she even put gluten free cookies in our room!
Lyndhurst had various cafes that catered for intolerances, I was pleasantly surprised!
After our bike ride we were STARVING! & chose to eat a late lunch at The Forage Deli & Eatery, they cater for gluten/dairy free & vegan 🌱. I was also mega happy as they done a few items for all day breakfast 😍
Of course I opted for the poached eggs 🍳 on gluten free toast 🍞 to which I asked for toasted toms (these tasted amazing!) and a side of chips 🙄🙈
Another cafe I would also recommend is The Lyndhurst Tea House we didn’t have time to eat here, but went inside & spoke to one of the waitresses who is also gluten free! She advised they use Genius gluten free bread. They also had a range of gluten free cakes available 🍰
Dinner
We searched around a bit for where to eat for dinner 🤔 as it’s not just gluten I avoid (my other main one is onion) it can become more complicated to find somewhere. I also didn’t want to eat somewhere that could only offer me plain food!
I did liaise with The Pig restaurant beforehand, who confirmed they could amend dishes to cater. However as it was a little further out we decided not to go with this one (it’s also very pricey). If you’re looking for a special occasion I would recommend the restaurant as the setting & place itself is gorgeous! We took a drive here during the day
To cut a long story short 📖 we ended up at a pub called White Rabbit which was so handy as we could walk there from our B&B! We popped in during the day to speak to the staff, who then liaised with the chef to ensure they could cater for no onion (they already have a non gluten menu)
A member of staff went through the menu with me & confirmed what I could have from the options I chose
For starters I went for the scallops, but asked for no chorizo (as I was going to have some for my main, please note I can tolerate garlic)
Main was grilled hake with chorizo & king prawns 🍤 I was really lucky that they amended some of this dish (red pepper ketchup isn’t suitable due to onion) so that I could chose this as an option. It was so yummy & I was so grateful for them catering specifically for me
I must admit I never usually get dessert 🍨 most of the gluten free options are chocolate based (I’m not a fan of chocolate in dessert). However I saw on the menu that one option was a Sundae which included cheesecake within it. I was a little ‘cheeky’ & asked the waiter if I could have the cheesecake by itself & not the sundae.. My face when he came back & said it was possible 😍
As you can probably tell I was super happy tucking into my gluten free cheesecake 🍰
Another option for dinner was a cute Italian in Lyndhurst called La Pergola it looked delicious! & I spoke to the staff who confirmed they catered for gluten free (gluten free pasta available). Unfortunately they were fully booked for the evening we requested 🍝
What To Do
We only had one night in the new forest & wanted to see as much as possible! Lyndhurst is a lovely town to stay in & has a few cute shops that we mooched in when we arrived 🏬
We then hired some bikes (£15 for the day) & went to the national park for a park ride, which was beautiful!
After the bike ride we jumped in the car to drive to the different towns (they’re all relatively close which is super handy) I must say my fav was Beaulieu. It’s the cutest town consisting off boutique shops & an amazing river. We also found the majority of the animals roaming around here, I actually got a little scared at first of how close they get 🙈
There was an hotel in Beaulieu I loved the look off (however quite pricey) called The Montagu Arms Hotel I would be tempted to go back here next time for a lunch or dinner 🍴
…
Overall I was really impressed with the New Forest 🌳
The scenery is beautiful and I was surprised with just how many pubs/restaurants catered for intolerances/allergies. I also noticed a number of the pubs were coeliac accredited!
Safe to say I would 100% return ☺️
