National Park focus: the New Forest March 1, 2005 Size New Forest National Park is the most densely populated of Britain's national parks, covering an area of 220 square miles. View Larger Map Insider guide By Gillie Hayball Role at the park: Lead ranger Best view The favourite is from the New Forest Tour which runs from June 29 to September 15. The views from the top deck are spectacular and you get to see the Forest from a completely different angle. It's great riding through the tree tops and you get a real sense of the landscape and coastline. It also stops at towns and villages across the Forest and hooks up with visitor attractions and campsite - a perfect day out or for exploring the Forest. For routes and timetables visit thenewforesttour.info. Favourite part of the park Among the ancient trees that have made the New Forest their home. We have over 1,500 ancient or veteran trees in the New Forest, some of which may be over 1,000 years old. I am also a fan of the heather which offers an iconic view of the New Forest with its large swathes of open land turning a beautiful purple in autumn as the heathers flower. Watch out too for the delicious tasting heather honey made in the area. It carries the New Forest Marque - a symbol of local authenticity. Natural world highlights (flora and fauna) The New Forest National Park is the most densely populated national oark in Britain and most famous for its free-roaming ponies and cattle. Over half of the landscape is internationally important for wildlife- a higher proportion than in any other English National Park. Highlights include: Thirteen out of the 18 British bat species can be found here. It is home to rare dragonflies such as the golden-ringed dragonfly, keeled skimmer, black darter, small red damselfly and the scarce blue-tailed damselfly. The New Forest is the most extensive area of heathland remaining in Europe. It has 75 per cent of the valley mires (areas of water-logged deep peat in valley bottoms with acid wetland plant communities) in north-western Europe. The New Forest is also a great place to look for deer because there is such a large area of undisturbed land for them, and is home to fallow, roe, sika and red deer. If you only see one thing, make sure you see: The iconic New Forest Pony - no visit is complete without seeing the Forest's most famous residents. Here's an interesting fact: people often think they are wild but they are owned by people called commoners. There are over 6,000 ponies out on the Forest and they are not alone. Favourite time of the year There is something special about walking through the ancient and ornamental woodlands during autumn with its rich colours; some say it even rivals a New England fall. You can also look out for the annual autumn visitor to the Forest - pigs. They are turned out during "pannage" from September to November to eat the green acorns and beech mast that are poisonous to the ponies. It is also the beginning of the controlled burning programme to help with heathland management and keep the gorse under control. The burning helps create the mosaic of heathland habitats that sustain a myriad of flora and fauna. There is also an explosion of fungi in the autumn; there are over 2,700 species in the Forest including the rare nail fungus (Poronia punctata) that fruits on pony dung! Favourite fact about the park It's not new and it's not a forest. The New Forest takes its name from the Latin nova foresta, which translates literally as "new hunting ground." King William the Conqueror in 1079 created the New Forest as his royal hunting ground for the pursuit of the "beasts of the chase" - deer and wild pigs. Best leisurely walks If you want to explore at your own pace, taking in the sights and sounds of the Forest but do not want to get lost, take a self-guided walk. All vary in distance from a quarter of a mile to two-and-a-half miles and are on a circular route. More information: www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/easy_walks Best for hardcore trekkers There are several options: The Solent Way is a 60-mile long-distance coastal walking route from the seaside town of Milford-on-sea past the hustle and bustle of seafronts, quiet yachting harbours, deserted marshland and saltings, finishing at Emsworth Harbour; a third of the trail is through the New Forest National Park. The Avon Valley Path runs for 34 miles from Wiltshire, along the Dorset and Hampshire border to Christchurch. It takes in the wildlife rich Avon Valley, and parts of the western New Forest. The Castleman Trail runs from just outside Ringwood to Upton Country Park in Poole. It follows the line of the old Southampton to Dorchester railway, also known as 'Castleman's Corkscrew'. It derived this nickname because the line was built by Charles Castleman and also for its many twists and turns; it was opened in 1847. More information can be found here: newforestnpa.gov.uk/long_distance_trails Otherwise, for your own hardcore trek, grab yourself an Ordinance Survey OL22 Explorer map and plan your own day out! The Park has over 30,000 hectares of accessible countryside and 325 kilometres (201.9 miles) of public rights of way. Best for families It has to be the New Forest Centre (newforestcentre.org.uk) in Lyndhurst, the heart of the New Forest. The Centre is the perfect place to start your visit; you can catch the New Forest Tour from there as well. It is full of information and activities about the history of the Forest, a tourist information centre, a shop stocking local craft and produce and a free art gallery. Other activities Visit the Reptile Centre near Lyndhurst for a fun-filled day of reptiles and raptors; learn more about the New Forest's most secretive inhabitants - goshawks - that were once hunted to extinction. While you are there watch live footage from a nest-cam of the birds feeding and rearing their chicks as they prepare to leave the nest. Afterwards walk around the reptile "pods" and see if you can spot the elusive adder or the bright colours of a male sand lizard in summer, that was re-introduced by the Forestry Commission in the 1980s. Gillie Hayball, lead ranger at New Forest National Park Can you stay there? For great places to stay visit the Our Land website (our-land.co.uk/newforest). It is full of quirky and interesting places to stay that use local produce, encourage sustainable transport and have made a promise to help look after the environment. Edited at Telegraph.co.uk by Jolyon Attwooll