Set along the coast of the beautiful New forest National Park, between Southampton and Bournemouth is the colourful historic port town of Lymington. Lymington’s high street is lined with pretty period cottages and gorgeous Georgian houses.
Every Saturday the town is home to the traditional market that fills the widest part of the street. The market’s origins date back to the 13th Century when farmers, merchants and traders would travel from far and wide to sell their goods. Stalls today offer an array of handcrafted jewellery, locally grown plants, exquisite flowers, delicious fudge, olives, superb seafood, souvenirs and trinkets.
Where the market and the high street end, the transition from the more modern streets into cobblestones begins. These narrower, older streets are aligned with boutique shops, pubs and restaurants, which lead you along to the water’s edge. Here you can take a relaxed stroll along the Quay soaking up the atmosphere, observing yachts, small boats and the ferry making it’s composed voyage across to the Isle of Wight. A little further on you will also find the 19th Century open sea baths – The oldest in the U.K and still popular with locals and tourists today – with the exception of the recent installation of giant inflatables they have been perfectly preserved since their opening in 1833
Lymington has a rich and intriguing history of smuggling. During the 18th and 19th Century smuggling was an important element of the local economy. The first documented evidence of smuggling was reported in 1328 by a customs controller who was in fact Geoffrey Chaucer’s father. (Author of the Canterbury Tales!) There is rumoured to be a vast network of underground tunnels in connecting the Marina to the various pubs involved in receiving the contraband mostly said to have been tea, coffee, wine, lace and sprits – Particularly every Pirates essential tipple, Rum!
Written by Eurospeak team
References:
https://www.thenewforest.co.uk/explore/towns-and-villages/lymington
http://www.lymingtonseawaterbaths.org.uk/
https://www.thenewforest.co.uk/whats-on/lymington-market-p788561
