Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre in New Forest National Park

Sight · New Forest National Park

Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre

Zip wires, lakes and woodland around a Grade I Victorian mansion

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Type
Sight
Nearest trail
2.3 km
Audio stories
16 nearby
  • Campground
  • Lodging
  • Food
  • Store

Hear the audio tour

A Country House for Young People

Overview

About Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre

Why stop

  • Huge range of activities for different ages and abilities
  • Historic house, lakes and woodland all in one base

Heads up

  • Aircraft and group noise can spoil quiet stays
  • Some facilities feel variable when the site is busy
A 65-acre activity estate inside the New Forest National Park, built around a Grade I listed Arts and Crafts house designed by W.R. Lethaby in 1891 for Lord Manners. The house is a calendar house, with 365 windows, 52 rooms, 12 chimneys, seven outer doors and four wings, and it sits above picturesque lakes, open field and encircling woodland. It later served as a convalescent home in the First World War and was requisitioned in the Second, and today the estate works as an outdoor learning and adventure base rather than a wander-in-off-the-road attraction.
Parkwolf’s verdictWhy stop here

Map

Where it is

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SightAvon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre50.80122, -1.73852
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Plan your stop

Before you go

Best time to go

Weekdays in term time are quieter for families; weekends and school holidays bring large, lively groups that can make the site noisy and busier at facility blocks. The estate sits close to a flight path, and aircraft noise is a repeated complaint, occasionally including late in the evening for some stays. Visitors also report that maintenance and cleanliness in some washroom blocks can be variable when the site is full, and that some picnic and barbecue furniture looks tired. The centre is oriented toward paid, booked activities, so costs can add up if you plan a full programme. Bring layers, sturdy footwear and kit you do not mind getting muddy, and expect free Wi-Fi only around the cafe and selected areas.

Access and inclusion

Provision here is genuinely strong: trained staff and adapted equipment mean activities such as climbing, canoeing, zip wire, high ropes and archery can often be adapted, and the site has all-terrain wheelchairs, inclusion bikes, hoists, accessible changing and wet rooms, ramps and lifts in relevant areas. Individual requirements vary, so discuss specific needs with the centre when booking rather than assuming every activity suits every visitor.

1 active New Forest alert

  • CautionNew Forest outdoor-fire restrictionDo not use BBQs, campfires, stoves, outdoor camping equipment or other naked flames on the open Forest.Official details
New Forest alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

New Forest Tour Guide

Your drive to Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for New Forest National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

Recorded for this area

A Country House for Young People
0:00 / 0:29
“Just off Braggers Lane, Avon Tyrrell House has a story beyond its unusual windows. During the First World War, it became a convalescent home for injured New Zealand officers.”

Plays on the road 0.7 km from Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre in the Parkwolf New Forest Tour Guide.

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Guide

More about Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Activity Centre

What the experience isThis is a managed centre with direct access to the wider forest, used for day visits, group and…

This is a managed centre with direct access to the wider forest, used for day visits, group and school residentials, family breaks, camping and lodge stays. Expect 30+ outdoor activities run by instructors: high and low ropes, climbing, zip wire, archery, raft building, pioneering, plus bushcraft skills such as fire lighting and shelter building. Programmes are shaped around the age and aims of each group, so families, youth groups and corporate teams get quite different days. Best approached as a planned visit or stay with activities booked in advance, since instructor-led sessions are not simply available on arrival.

Things to doInstructor-led sessions, including 90-minute Go Adventure blocks and the Tree Top Trail for…
  • Instructor-led sessions, including 90-minute Go Adventure blocks and the Tree Top Trail for families.
  • Bike hire and on-site red and blue graded tracks, along with good walking paths looping the grounds.
  • Self-guided extras such as a bouldering wall, table tennis, sports court, frisbee golf and play areas.
  • Fishing on the lakes, which hold carp, tench, bream, roach, rudd, perch and eels, with no promises about what bites.
  • Cafe Explore for breakfast, light bites and snacks, plus a reception and shop for essentials.
Staying overThere are seven self-contained, fully equipped and accessible lodges sleeping 6, 12 or 14, and…

There are seven self-contained, fully equipped and accessible lodges sleeping 6, 12 or 14, and six forest and lake camping areas with electric and non-electric pitches, allocated dog-friendly pitches, hot showers, communal fire pits and low-cost activity options. Camping is seasonal, so check availability before planning a trip around it. The location works well as a base for New Forest villages, beaches and coastal towns nearby.

Wildlife

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