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
Overview
About Swan Green
Why stop
- Photogenic thatched cottages, green and cricket-pitch setting
- Easy base for a short walk toward Emery Down and Lyndhurst Hill
Heads up
- Small, scenic stop rather than a major attraction
- Narrow lanes and popular views can make parking awkward
This small hamlet green is one of the most photographed spots in the New Forest, and the reason is visible in a minute: a row of thatched cottages and a detached thatched cottage set behind a green with a well-used cricket pitch. Several buildings nearby are Grade II listed, and the sheltered hillside setting gives attractive views of cottages down narrow lanes.
Parkwolf’s verdictWhy stopMap
Where it is
Loading the New Forest map
Full mapPlan your stop
Before you go
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
New Forest Tour Guide
Your drive to Swan Green, 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 place
Swan Green0:00 / 0:23
“Swan Green is coming up, a small hamlet green edged by thatched cottages and a cricket pitch. For the classic photograph, look across the grass toward the cottage row; detached Beehive Cottage makes a second subject.”
Plays as you drive up to Swan Green in the Parkwolf New Forest Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Lyndhurst Village and Bolton's Bench
- The Dragon Beneath the Yew
- Minstead's Buried Font
- The Mouse in the Fir Cone
- 283 audio storiesacross New Forest’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, White-tailed Eagle, Harbor Seal, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 70 trails, 48 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
More about Swan Green
What you see and doThe picture-postcard view across the green towards the thatched cottages, best appreciated on…
- The picture-postcard view across the green towards the thatched cottages, best appreciated on foot rather than from the car.
- Beehive Cottage, the detached thatched cottage by the green, probably built in 1833 as a gardener's cottage for nearby Northerwood House; the adjacent thatched row is older and once housed forestry workers.
- The cricket pitch, laid out in the 1880s on ground that earlier maps show as woodland.
Walking tipA short circular walk of about 1 mile (1.5 km) links the green with the hamlet of Emery Down.
A short circular walk of about 1 mile (1.5 km) links the green with the hamlet of Emery Down. It crosses the green, then climbs fairly steeply for roughly 200 m through woods before easing off and returning along quiet lanes. Wear shoes with grip for the climb. Allow 30 to 45 minutes for the loop plus time on the green itself, and treat it as a route along paths and lanes rather than a signed trail.
Honest drawbacksA brief scenic stop, not a destination that fills an afternoon.
- A brief scenic stop, not a destination that fills an afternoon.
- The lanes are narrow and the view is popular, so parking can be a serious problem at busy times. The Forestry England parking here is small and has no facilities listed, so plan for a quick visit and use Lyndhurst if you need shops or amenities.
- The green sits beside a main road, so expect passing traffic noise close to the cottages.
Wildlife
Wildlife in New Forest
28 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
10 sightingsWhite-tailed EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
14 sightingsHarbor SealMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
176 sightingsEuropean Fallow DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
93 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
54 sightingsMute SwanMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across New Forest. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
