Our plan was pure: Drive into the heart of the New Forest. In the morning, walk around the ancient town of Bucklers Hard and in the afternoon hire a couple of push-bikes and cycle an easy route though the New Forest — an easy track because, *blush*, I can’t actually ride a bike!

The reality was somewhat different. The apparently quaint Bucklers Hard village had now been converted into a commercial outfit and entrance would have cost us £12 just to get into the site to walk down the road. Our responses to the requested tariff ranged from surprise and mild disappointment (Squiffy) to silent outrage (daveb). We’re not much into history or museums when the sun is shining so our non-entry to the land wasn’t too sad. However, there was a canoe hut on the other side of the wall and we rather fancied a paddle up and down the river. The ticket-office cashier saw our predicament and allowed us into the site for a few minutes to see if the canoe people were about (which, incidentally, they were not). Of course, this meant that we had a quick chance to snoop around the site along the way. We’ve included some sneaky snaps for you to make up your own mind on whether £6 (each) is a fair price. I guess you can’t put a price on heritage but, I for one, am pleased that I can put that money towards something else.

Furthermore, our bottoms never actually graced the awkward seats of bicycles as we instead focussed our efforts on upgrading our mode of transport (you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out more).

View our New Forest gallery (warning: our gallery does not do this area justice at all!)