Lymington: Unlock a hidden gem of the New Forest

Welcome back to The Destination Unlocked

Podcast with me, Daniel Edward.

Today on Destination Unlocked, we're going somewhere a little

bit closer to home for me.

It's in the UK.

And the UK is a country, which I must say I feel gets overlooked for tourism.

I'm not talking about London.

A lot of people go to London.

But beyond London, there is a whole country out there.

And let me tell you, it is a gorgeous country and today

we're going to an absolutely spectacular part of the country.

It's in the New Forest, which is just to the south coast sort of area, and we're

gonna be visiting a town called Lymington.

And well, our guide to Livington couldn't be more enthusiastic about the town.

I met Catherine Gosney at an event in London, a travel

event, and we got chatting about

her Travel Club, Club Thirty Three Luxury Travel Club,

which is a private member's travel club, which offers

exclusive weekly discounts and access to the UK's most exceptional destinations,

all in a single email by a week, and it offers these unique deals that

you're not going to find on all those big mailouts that bombard your inbox.

And then we got chatting about doing an episode together and she was like,

I have got to talk about Lymington.

You're gonna love this episode.

Enjoy.

So Catherine, where are you unlocking for us today?

Today I'm unlocking the beautiful coastal town of

Lymington in the south coast of the UK.

Which I love because the areas outside of London in

the UK, in my opinion, are largely overlooked by international tourists.

They don't think to go out into the country.

They don't know it's there maybe, and British tourists don't

even consider our own country.

We, we flee abroad and there's so much for us to enjoy in the UK.

I think that's absolutely true, and

especially of the New Forest.

So many people don't actually know the New Forest.

Plenty of people from the southeast, they drive straight

past to go down to Cornwall.

A lot of people up north, often come down to the sandy beaches of Dorset.

So a lot of people don't know the New Forest is there and the

beautiful town of Lymington.

But the people that have discovered it are very passionate and we see repeat visits

year after year because they love it.

They can't believe they found such a beautiful gem, in England.

And they return time and time again.

If you were to describe Lymington and take us

on a sort of a whistle stop tour, what would you include for us?

so Lymington is sort of cocooned by the New Forest,

so it's right on the coast and it's a very historic, Georgian market town.

A very broad high street.

We still have car parking, thank goodness, on the high street.

It's about a mile long.

It's full of independent businesses, beautiful restaurants,

beautiful hotels, fantastic shops.

And then at the end of the High Street, it goes down into the famous Lymington

cobbles, which is a beautiful walk down to Lymington Key, which is still a working

harbour, and it's just, it's just a gem.

It has literally got everything you could ask for.

It is where the forest meets the sea, and there's not many places like that in the

UK and it's still got a thriving economy.

So it's a beautiful place to live with a real sense of community

and a very authentic charm.

It's good for people who love the outdoors as well.

Because when the weather's nice, you've got the gorgeous coastal path.

The coastal path is absolutely stunning, and you

can walk all the way down to Hurst Spit and see the castle there.

And also we've got the ferry that takes you to Yarmouth and you can explore

the Isle of Wight from Lymington.

So that's a gem.

We've also got one of the oldest outdoor Lidos in the world, the

Lymington salt pool, water baths.

And it's a phenomenal place to visit.

If you've got young children.

It's got an inflatable obstacle course, and you can do kayaking...

Lymington's got an amazing maritime history, but it was also a place

where they used to produce salt in the 17th and 18th centuries.

So the salt pool and the salt swimming pool, the outdoor Lido

is really a, a gem and a lot of people don't even know that's there.

A lot of people who live in the New Forest don't know that's there.

So that is definitely a secret bit of advice I could give to

see when you come to Lymington.

And is the saltwater Lido open year round?

No, it's open for six months of the year, so high

summer, sort of May to October I think.

But it's fantastic value for money.

It's still run by the council.

They keep the cost of entrance cheap.

It's wonderful and there's lots of lovely bars around so you can

get a nice meal afterwards when you've burnt off all that energy.

And it's right next door to the harbour.

And there's loads of sailing courses in Lymington.

It's a big sailing town.

It's got a fantastic maritime history.

And it's set in the New Forest, so to have the open outdoors with the ponies

and the wild animals, it's, it's a really beautiful part of the world.

If you enjoy camping, if you enjoy walking, but also if you want to

see some beautiful places to shop at and to eat, it's, it's got it all.

Yeah, the High Street is more of a boutiquey high street, isn't it?

Yeah, very much so.

Yeah, it's actually a hub for ladies.

There's, I think there's about eight independent ladies wear boutiques.

But it's also a bit of a destination for foodies.

We've got The Elderflower, which is one of the most renowned restaurants in the

country that's on Lymington Cobbles.

That's wonderful.

We've also got the High Street Kitchen run by Gavin Barnes,

which is a fantastic venue serving local, beautiful food and not as

expensive as you would think at all.

We've also got Stanwell's Boutique Hotel.

And that is a stunning hotel that went, underwent a huge refurbishment

a couple of years ago, and the number of people that that hotel

brings to the town is wonderful.

We have a lot of visitors, both national and international, that

stay there for a couple of nights and explore the high street, walk down

cobbles, visit the yachting areas, and.

Yeah, it's, there's some very nice businesses there.

There's also some gems, some smaller companies.

There's Cottinghams, which is down a little side alleyway, and that's a

family run coffee shop with beautiful giftware, but also the most delicious

coffee and lunches you could dream of.

So it's, it is actually a destination for foodies as well as shoppers.

And what sort of things are on the menu?

If you were to design a dream day or two days in Lymington and centre it all around

food and you can eat anything you want and no calories count, what are you eating?

Well definitely crab.

Uh, crab is a Lymington specialty and you can get crab sandwiches

down at the quay, which is lovely.

If you can get a table at The Elderflower, I definitely recommend that.

They make their own butter.

Anywhere that makes their own butter gets to the top of my list.

I would always go to the High Street kitchen 'cause Gavin Barnes has

done something wonderful there and it's fantastic value for money.

I'm a bit in love with the art gallery in Lymington.

So St. Barb's is, is a museum and art gallery in the town

centre and that was redesigned I think about eight years ago now.

And.

They added a beautiful cafe to the front of the museum and it's fantastic.

Teas, scones, homemade soup, for five or six pounds, and it is just wholesome.

It's a wholesome place.

A lot of the community are there, rather than the more touristy destinations.

So I would definitely recommend eating at St. Barb's Museum

for a nice, a nice lunch.

And there's lots of New Forest produce that's available.

So it's it's local stuff.

Catherine Gosney: Absolutely New Forest honey.

A New Forest shortbread.

Uh, we've got a lot of smaller producers in the New Forest.

result of that, the area's been protected and businesses have been protected.

So there's no out of town business parks.

There's not many huge supermarkets around, and that has sort of given

a bubble of protection for smaller producers, smaller suppliers,

smaller shops to grow and invest.

And one of the best things about Lymington is the Saturday market.

So I would definitely recommend coming to Lymington on a Saturday.

And one of the reasons that that is a phenomenal market to visit is the

Council haven't been too greedy.

I think they charge about 25 to 30 pounds for a stand.

And because the High Street is about a mile long and very wide, it means

on a Saturday you get a hundred or 150 small producers all coming to the town

without having to risk too much outlay.

So you get a really diverse offering of local produce.

So we are very lucky to have the Saturday market in Lymington.

And that Saturday's year round.

Year round.

Absolutely.

I do recommend you come early.

If you come at midday, you're not gonna get a parking space,

especially on a Saturday.

But yeah, it is year round and we get day visits from all over,

often, very weekly from Redding, Basingstoke, Salisbury, Winchester.

If you imagine that the whole of the UK was booming, this is what

our town centres would look like.

Lymington somehow was held on to a, a thriving economy and

a community-based economy.

And we are very lucky for that.

And I, I hope it continues.

But when you, when you come, you think, oh my goodness, this is amazing.

I've forgotten that towns and city centres could be like this.

It is amazing to, it sort of harks back to a glory day that

didn't need to end or hasn't ended in, in Lymington's case, it's community, it's

buzzing, it's variety and people come from very local, but also from regional

to experience it and get together.

Very much so, and they're very passionate about the

town, but it's also become a hub of culture, which is quite interesting.

So the largest city nearest is Southampton.

And Southampton's actually very difficult to get to.

It's very difficult to park.

It's not that safe at night, and Lymington's really benefited from this.

So the, the evening economy is really doing very well and we've got a

beautiful church, in the centre of the High Street called St. Thomas'

Church, which is very unique.

It's got a Georgian gallery all around the top, and this venue has become a real

destination for classical music fans.

So for example, in May we have the Solent Music Festival that is run by a phenomenal

world class pianist called Sam Hayward, and he brings the most incredible, world

famous musicians to Lymington every year.

I've seen Stephen Isles there, I've seen The King's Singers there.

And then outside of that, we also have our own professional orchestra.

Called the Nova Foresta Classical Players run by Phil Daish-Handy,

who again is a phenomenal cellist.

And they've just created a series of concerts throughout the whole year

that the whole town community and people who love classical music in

Hampshire have started coming to.

So that's very interesting.

We've got a beautiful community centre, we've got our own

cinema in Lymington as well.

So the nighttime economy is really improving, based on some of the

more difficult and poor decisions of perhaps the surrounding larger cities.

Do you know, I think people listening to this might not be thinking

about visiting Lymington as a holiday.

They might be thinking of moving there.

Well they do.

The reason why I'm so passionate about Lymington is I'm one of the very lucky

shopkeepers that have a shop in Lymington, and every year I have people that come

back and they come and shop with me.

Then four or five years later, they'll go, this time we're house hunting.

So that happens all the time.

When people discover Lymington, when they discover the New Forest, you know,

within a few years actually they decide this is gonna be a lovely place to live.

I've got everything I could need.

And you still have, you still have a butchers, you still have a veg shop.

All those things that actually where you know the owner of the shop and

you can see that they care about what they do and there is that personal

connection and sense of community.

I do know everybody's business and I like knowing everybody's business.

I like saying, how is your dad?

How did your daughter get on at school today?

And Lymington still has that.

One of the reasons we still have that is for many years we've had

free parking on the High Street, which we've just recently lost.

So it'll be interesting to see if the economy can continue to

be protected in the long term.

But one of the second reasons there are so many independent businesses in

Lymington is because of the architecture.

A lot of the buildings are actually very small.

They just don't suit multinationals, and that's given us protection

as independents to continue.

So my shop is bang in the centre of the High Street and it's

about a thousand years old.

You can still see the Tudor beams.

It's very small.

I wish it was bigger.

I would do very well if it was bigger.

most beautiful curved glass windows, an art deco front door.

And combined with sort of the mediaeval architecture behind and the Georgian

architecture on the front, it's a very interesting architectural environment

that has actually boosted a very diverse collection of businesses.

Is this the sort of place where you'd need to have your

own car to do it, or can you get there easily by train or by bus?

We've got our own train station in Lymington, and it goes

straight to the ferry terminal actually.

So there's a train station at the bottom of the High Street, fantastic bus routes.

The New Forest is a destination for cyclists.

Off-road cycling.

There are hundreds and hundreds of miles of off-road bike routes in Lymington.

But it's also a destination for people that use cars as well.

One of the reasons the Lymington economy is doing so well is we have lots of car

parks and they're very fairly priced and they're not multi stories and they're

all very close to the town centre.

So, it attracts everybody regardless of how you are, how you are driving.

And of course you can al always get to Lymington by yacht.

We, we

a different way to arrive, isn't it?

arriving.

It is, it is, but it, it happens, you know, and we quite like it when they

arrive in the summer, you know, all of the shops and restaurants get a boost.

I don't think we've got Helipads, but you know, maybe,

You can put one in.

will correct me.

What about if people want to make it from London, the

train stations connected in from.

Oh, fantastic.

From London Waterloo, 90 minutes to Brockenhurst Station, and then change in,

its 15 minutes into Lymington Town Centre.

It sounds super easy.

Have I sold it to you?

you have, I'm moving.

Tell me more about your shop on the High Street.

So my shop is 33 Boutique.

It's a designer ladies wear store.

I've got three shops altogether.

One in Bournemouth, one in Wimborne, but the one in Lymington is my flagship

store, and I absolutely adore it.

It's very small.

I've got loads of support from the community.

And then in the summer I have all the tourists.

So I count my blessings every day.

I have about 40 designer labels.

A lot of the labels you might see in Selfridges or some of the

most beautiful places in London.

I do have a variety of prices and I'm very careful about what I pick.

I make sure I pick things that ladies don't see elsewhere, and I

try wherever possible to get pieces of clothing where if you walk out in

something you've bought from me, other people go, wow, where's that from?

That's my goal.

It is so nice to have something which is special.

I, I really believe in the power of clothing.

Me too.

Oh, me too.

It can change how you feel.

Totally.

Yes.

Yeah.

It's not just about showing off.

It can be about confidence.

It can be about lift.

And I think it's also about health.

It's a an interesting point that I don't see made very often, but natural fabrics

are actually very good for us to wear.

So I sell a lot of linen, silk, wool, cashmere.

That's where we try and focus our efforts on beautiful

clothes that last a long time.

Oh, I'm a big believer in linen apart from in the winter.

I'm, I, I live in linen.

I, I, I love it and I.

That wasn't a line I was expecting you to say today.

And I'm big on materials that haven't been treated

with so many chemicals as well.

That's something people don't realise about the fast fashion world is all

of the cloth is drenched in chemicals.

Come and work for me.

I need you to talk about this in my boutiques because this is exactly,

I agree with you a hundred percent.

And we actually have untreated cashmere, which is very rare.

But the ladies that understand it, they really value it, for

the same reasons that you said.

And I, I mean, linen, if you are, if you are travelling around the world,

you cannot beat linen in hot countries.

It's just fantastic and a lot of people complain that it creases,

but that's the charm of it.

And all you've got to do is spray it with a bit of water, hang it up,

and it'll drop out the next day.

And that's how people know you're wearing linen.

Yeah, it's true.

It's true.

Oh, yeah.

, I got the linen as a travel wardrobe really.

I spent, very fortunately, I spent a lot of time in very hot places, and

so I needed a wardrobe that match

Yes, and linen is not as expensive as you'd think.

You know, we have plenty of linen pieces under 60 pounds

and they, they last forever.

Mm-hmm.

And they look fantastic.

Yeah, so I'm a big fan of linen.

We sell a lot of linen in Lymington.

A lot of white jeans too, and Navy tops.

Oh, all

whole maritime look.

Yes.

Yeah,

And so I'm, I'm guessing that Thirty Three Boutique means that

you are number 33 on the High Street.

Yes, yes, we are.

Yeah.

And so that also gives away the naming of another part of what you do.

And I was gonna ask where the number 33 came from.

Now I realise.

Tell us about your travel club.

So I have a gorgeous little travel club where

I send out weekly discounts to my members, for some of the most

beautiful hotels in the UK and abroad.

There's thousands of us.

We love nice places.

We love supporting nice places, but we also don't want to use booking platforms.

We want to support British hospitality.

We want to support family run hotels, family run businesses.

We don't want to use booking.com or Expedia or the other sort of travel

clubs where they take 25, 30%.

So with the partners I work with, I've got to like them.

It's got to be luxury.

And I don't charge them anything.

I don't take a cut.

I don't take a fee.

I just ask, please, could they pass that discount onto my members?

And if they do, I send it out.

To all my lovely members and they get loads of bookings free of

charge direct to their website.

So it's a fantastic travel club.

50% of the offers I send are uk, 50% are abroad and we have villas

and cruises and international packages, but all picked by me.

So you don't get thousands of emails a week with offers and you can't

figure out which one to go to.

So it is quite curated and quite niche.

So did this start as a passion project just because you love

going away to really nice places and then you started to build relationships

or, or are you the person that people in Lymington pop in and whilst they're

looking at, at a nice new dress or a pant suit, they're saying, have you

been anywhere nice recently, Catherine?

It is actually closer to the latter.

Particularly in, my Bournemouth boutique.

So about five years ago I took over a very renowned boutique in the centre of

Bournemouth and that was quite a different environment to Lymington and our clients

there would ask me for recommendations.

A lot more holiday makers, more throughout the year in Bournemouth than in Lymington.

And they did expect us to book nice restaurants for them

or recommend a nice hotel.

And then eventually over the years when those hotels were a little bit quieter,

they'd phone me up to say, have you got any ladies that would be interested?

We could give them a room upgrade.

We could give them free breakfast or they would offer a treat.

And then one year I thought, oh, you know, I'm gonna make this official.

And I said to my ladies, who wants to join me?

I'm gonna do a travel club.

Gimme a token 12 pound 50 a year just to cover the administration costs and

the time that I spend with the hotels.

And they all joined and it's just gone from strength to

strength from there really.

How can people join?

Just visit my website, www.clubthirtythreeluxurytravel.com.

You get one email a week from me with luxury travel offers, and you book direct.

Super easy.

It sounds fantastic and I like, I like the fact that it's,

it's personally curated based on real relationships and it's not incessant.

Certain travel based emails become too much.

I've signed up to some where I get them daily and actually I'm not up

for it daily, but I look forward to receiving something weekly.

Yes, absolutely.

Nobody wants to be bombarded by emails.

I think that's a tough sell.

You know, my, my business is sending emails.

To a lot of people who don't want emails.

So I do keep it very curated and strictly only one a week.

They are getting longer because we're getting some amazing offers.

So I need to have a think about how I manage that going forward.

But also with the subscriptions, you know, some of these travel clubs,

they charge 50, 60, 70 pounds a year.

Well, if you haven't used it for the year, that's just not good value for money.

So I'm quite determined to keep the membership at 12 pound 50 a year.

And I also think there's a lot of people that like very nice places that

aren't millionaires, that actually they will save up to go somewhere nice.

And if I keep the membership cost at 12.50 a year, it means

everyone can join if they want to.

Even if they're just taking their Mum out to a five star hotel for an afternoon tea.

Just the once it will be.

The best value, 12 pound 50 they've ever spent.

So yeah, it's a quite, it's quite a different approach and I think

that's why we're growing so fast.

Yeah.

Essentially use it once and it's already paid for itself.

Which you can't lose because if we look at the vast majority of us go

away at least once, and then a, a lucky selection of us go away for

a couple of extra long weekends, maybe a second main holiday as well.

So those people are gonna make even more use of it, but everybody's gonna make

use of, an afternoon tea deal as well

absolutely, and we've got tours of

vineyards and beautiful things.

Sometimes we have tickets to the opera.

Sometimes we have sporting packages.

But just, like in my boutique, I try to make sure I have a diverse

price range so that there is some something for everybody's budget.

The qualifying factor is, is it luxury?

Is it beautiful?

And you can get some very, very beautiful five star visits and five star hotel stays

for not as much money as you would think, and especially with what's happening in

in pubs, particularly the prices of a meal in a pub is getting very, very high.

For quite ordinary meals.

And actually if you do go to a five star hotel, especially at lunchtime,

you see some incredible deals for 18 or 19 pounds for two or three

courses of some of the finest foods you will ever eat in your life.

So I think I'm a big champion of people doing the very best they can at the very

best value for the general public 'cause that's what the British economy needs.

And it's those companies that I try to find and try to share.

And give the support of my club members and with my members.

I try to encourage an ethos of support.

So I do say to everybody, if by any bit of bad luck, you have a bad experience,

please don't leave a negative review.

Try and give the establishment the chance to put it right privately

before you write their biggest mistake they've ever made publicly that's there

forever and they can never get removed.

So it is very much an ethos of support.

For family run businesses, beautiful establishments that

really care about what they do.

And that comes back to the community, which comes back to Lymington

because that's the ethos of the place.

I, I wanna try you on some quiz questions about Lymington.

I'll give you five questions and anybody who's maybe visited before can play along.

Some of them you've already given away the answers, so I know you're gonna do well.

Question one, Lymington sits on the edge of which National Park?

New Forest.

Correct?

Easy point.

I think gonna get the next one Really.

What island can you reach by ferry from Lymington?

The Isle of Wight.

Indeed

the gorgeous isle of Wight, I should say.

It's had an upgrade already.

I'll give you the next one.

You've, you, you're definitely gonna get this 'cause you've already mentioned

it as well, but what type of boats are Lymington famously associated with?

Yachts

And I think you're all delighted to be associated with them.

Very much so.

It helps, definitely helps.

Although just a bit further down the road, we've got Buckler's Hard, which was where

Ooh, so it used to be a shipbuilding area as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a, it's a lovely place to visit.

And it's just a couple of miles down from Lymington.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Next question.

Oh, that's gotta be the Lido.

It is the oldest one in the UK, I believe.

Oh, now that's a

claim.

think it is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The lido, the uh, seawater bath, it's, and it is salty water.

It is.

Yes.

Oh, it's fantastic.

Yes.

I, I go in every year and I always feel better for having swum there.

It's, it's fantastic.

Another place that I think just makes me feel

better going in is the New Forest.

Tell me what animals roam freely in the New Forest.

This is question five.

Um, donkeys, ponies, cattle and then in the autumn, the

pigs are let out for pannage, which is when they eat all the acorns so

that the ponies don't get poisoned.

Wow.

Gosh, you get more points than I was even gonna give for that one.

But I love that detail about why they let the pigs do that.

'cause pigs can eat anything.

Yes, quite, yeah.

Oh, that's fantastic.

And the piglets, you can see the families and the piglets out.

It's, and you, it's, it's still exciting even now.

Oh, and deer, I forgot, deer.

So, when I drive home from Bournemouth, 'cause I live, I live

in the middle of the New Forest, a little bit away from Lymington.

It gives me a thrill every time I drive home, when the clocks have

changed and I drive through the dark and I, I see a herd of deer.

I just love it.

I'm so grateful for where I live.

I love the nature, the, the trees themselves.

Then you add in the animals, it just gets, then you add in the seaside, it's

Yes.

And the heathlands, the heathlands are stunning.

When the Heather turns purple, it's some of the most beautiful

sites you, you'll, you'll ever see.

And unlike a lot of places which we chat about on this podcast,

it's not really a, a tourist hotspot in that it's not overrun by tourists.

I often ask for that sort of local secret that gets you away from the tourists,

but actually, I, I think you're sort of blessed that anybody who visits Lymington

is naturally away from the tourists.

They're getting a very low key, luxurious visit.

Yes, very much.

You might not find that on the way to Lymington.

You will notice if you come in the summer months, you will hit some serious

traffic around Lyndhurst, for example, you could sit there for an hour trying

to get to Lymington, and sometimes in August, Lymington can be a little bit,

a little bit, slightly more over run.

Compared to, no, it's not an over run tourist destination.

Yeah.

It's not so well known.

And in terms of the wider area, maybe thinking about Lyndhurst,

maybe thinking about the New Forest generally, are there any tips that

you would share with people who are thinking about making it as a trip?

Don't want to fall into those sort of big tourist traps and want to do

something more authentic, but it's gonna be a really great memory.

Yes, well, I would definitely check your Satnav before

you leave and do your best to avoid Lyndhurst, in high summer for being a

little bit off the beaten track, I would look at the north of the New Forest.

It's really stunning and it's much quieter.

There aren't as many towns and villages there, but in terms of walks and ponds

and heathland, it's really beautiful to come down the motorway and turn right

into the new forest rather than left.

There's a lot more to see there and lots of farm shops.

Lot, and there are, there are cottages you can rent.

But also camping.

The new forest is fantastic for camping.

So I couldn't recommend that highly enough.

Fantastic value for money as well.

Plenty of campsite in the new forest, and if you bring your bikes, that's a

wonderful trip where a lot of the villages are connected by off-road cycle routes,

so I would definitely recommend that.

And you mentioned about bringing your bike.

Is it possible to hire bikes nearby as well, or you wanna come with them?

Yes, there is no, you can hire bikes in Brockenhurst

and in Burleigh in particular, Burley's a hotspot for tourists.

Yeah, so there's plenty of, oh, and there's one, there's a fantastic bike

shop in Lyndhurst that I would highly recommend that has great coffee too.

I noticed that a lot of your recommendations

do have an attached cafe.

I'm a bit addicted to coffee.

What can I say?

But also, most of them are independent and I love giving my

money to independent businesses.

So I, yes, I spend a fortune on coffee shops.

But I love it.

It is like changing the era that you are in.

It's like moving out of this hectic present day, which causes so much

stress for people and taking us just back in time enough to still have all

of the comforts, but to also reconnect with what I call a human pace of life.

Very much so.

Yes.

Yes.

If you, if you're lucky enough to be able to afford to live in the

New Forest, it does have it all.

I mean, even just, you can get, you can hire a kayak

down at the Lymington Cobbles.

think it's 20 or 30 pounds for a few hours and you can just go and paddle away on the

Solent it's just, you know, the New Forest - Lymington is the New Forest meets the sea.

So if you love the outdoors and you need to get away from your office, or

you need to just connect with nature again, it's a lovely place to do so.

For people who are visiting from abroad, what would you

say is the custom for tipping in local, independent cafes or restaurants?

There's not a lot of tipping in the local

cafes, but the restaurants are quite similar to London, so 12.5%.

Often automatically added.

We are very blessed with hotels in the area, so we do have some of the

most beautiful hotels in the world, just within a few miles of Lymington.

So we have Lime Wood, we have Chewton Glen, we have the Pig at

Brockenhurst, and we have Stanwell House Hotel in the High Street.

And all of these are exceptional hotels for international travellers,

where you get a real feel for the area and the local produce as well.

What would you say is the top thing to see or do?

Oh, in Lymington.

Do you know I love the seafood festival.

Come in August, come and see the seafood festival.

It is fabulous.

The town is buzzing and the delights on offer in terms

of dining is pretty exciting.

And how long does the festival run for?

I think it's three days.

Yes.

And there's music and street food and lots and lots of seafood.

It's in a beautiful park overlooking the water.

The whole town comes alive for three or four days, so I would

come to the seafood festival.

That sounds fantastic.

What would you say is the top tourist trap to avoid?

It's the Lyndhurst roads.

Do everything you can to avoid the traffic at Lyndhurst.

You might have a lovely weekend planned and then be stuck there for

two hours if you're not careful.

So take the routes around, is there a route that you tend to take?

I'd like to travel by yacht if I had a choice.

But um, I often go through Beaulieu.

So that's a beautiful drive and a very historic place to see.

And they've got the Beaulieu Motor Museum, which is also worth a visit.

I really like Beaulieu.

Beaulieu's great.

What's your favourite time of year for somebody to visit?

Oh, well this is easy.

There are two months that are sort of a sweet spot for, for Lymington

and the New Forest actually.

June And September it's still warm and you've got very, very

few tourists around, very few.

It's just lovely and it is warm on the south coast.

So June and September I would say come to the New Forest during those months.

Yeah, you've still got the weather so you can do all the outdoors.

Sorts of things, but it's not overwhelmed.

Is there a top book or film that you'd recommend for

somebody who wants to capture the spirit of Lymington before arriving?

Oh, I'm not sure.

I can't think of any books linked to Lymington, but there's lots of

authors linked to the New Forest.

Arthur Conan Doyle is buried in Minstead.

And also Alice from Alice in Wonderland is buried at Lyndhurst Church, so

maybe Lewis Carroll and Arthur Conan Doyle, I would say for the New Forest.

When you say that Alice from Alice in Wonderland is buried there.

Does that mean that she's based on a real girl?

Yes she is.

I think Alice Liddle, I think her name, her name was.

Yes.

Yeah.

And it's a beautiful, a brick built Victorian church at the top of

Lyndhurst High Street, and she's buried just, just behind there.

Wow.

I did not know that.

Corr.

Fancy having a book like that written after you.

I know.

And you will see throughout Lyndhurst, you know, a lot of the

shops reference Alice in Wonderland.

There's a little Alice in Wonderland theme throughout Lyndhurst.

Oh, and some people are really big on Alice and Wonderland.

It's a, a brand that has just captured people's imaginations.

Yes, absolutely.

And, and actually, that burial site often has little trinkets left and Arthur

Conan Doyle, where he is buried, somebody always leaves a pipe on the gravestone

there, and often it gets pinched and then somebody else puts another one back

because it's like a cycle of pipes being left on Arthur Conan Doyle's grave.

Someone needs to open a pipe shop on the High Street.

definitely.

Um, what would you say is the top food or drink to try?

I'd have to say crab, Lymington crab in the summer months.

Come down and get a crab sandwich.

And final question.

If somebody's looking for a, an authentic souvenir, something to take home with

them that will remind them of their visit, but that isn't a mass produced something

from China, what would you suggest?

Well down by the Cobbles, there are some beautiful

gift shops that have handmade gifts, from, you know, old boats and shells

and there's some, there's always something very unique down there.

There's lots of homeware stores where they've made things locally,

especially on the market as well, on a Saturday there's a lot of

handmade gifts that are beautiful.

I still have a soft spot for St. Barb's art museum and gallery, and their

gift shop has very unique and local gifts, so I would definitely recommend

going there for something special.

Amazing stuff.

Catherine of Thirty Three Boutique in Lymington and Club Thirty

Three Luxury Travel, which you can join from online anywhere.

Thank you so much for unlocking Lymington for us.

Thank you Daniel.

Well, thank you again to Catherine of Thirty Three Boutique in

Livington, and of course Club Thirty Three Luxury Travel, that private

members travel club with exclusive weekly discounts and access to the

UK's most exceptional destinations.

All in that one beautifully curated single email per week.

Well before you head off and have a wonderful rest of your day, do make

sure you are following the Destination Unlocked Podcast wherever you're

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armchair travelling somewhere beautiful.

Have a great day.

Bye-bye.