Where New Forest Fish & Shellfish Serves

Declared a royal hunting forest by William the Conqueror in 1079, the New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture, heathland and woodland in southern England. Ancient commoners’ rights — allowing ponies, cattle, donkeys and pigs to graze freely across the Forest — were formally protected by the 1217 Charter of the Forest and are still exercised today, overseen by the Court of Verderers. One of the Forest’s most enduring legends is the death of King William II (“William Rufus”) in the year 1100, killed by an arrow while hunting near what’s now known as the Rufus Stone — a spot still marked today, with tales of his ghost said to haunt the area. The Forest became a National Park in 2005.

New Forest Fish & Shellfish serves the whole of this region, from Christchurch and the coast through to the heart of the Forest itself.