A panoramic picture taken from High Street in Lymington. Lymington is a very old town, and the High Street was not built to take the volume of traffic that now runs through it on a busy day. From here the road to the left continues up a slope to Parish Church Of St Thomas. The tourist information office is down the road on the opposite side of the High Street. To the right the road descends down a hill towards the old harbour.

Lymington - Lymington visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Lymington' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Hampshire.

Occupied since the Iron Age and known in the Doomsday Book as 'Lentune', Lymington is an old port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent in Hampshire. The town produces salt in the Middle Ages and then became famous for ship building in the 19th century. Much of the old town buildings have been destroyed over the years, but Lymington still retains strong links with sailing and the sea. Today the town is a popular tourist destination in the New Forest are during the summer months.

Lymington - Sailing

Lymington is home to two sailing clubs, the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, founded in the 1920s, and the Lymington Town Sailing Club, founded in 1946. Each year Lymington hosts a number of world-famous regattas, like the Royal Lymington Cup, Etchells Worlds, Macnamara's Bowl, and Source Regatta. The Royal Lymington Yacht Club holds the Thursday Evening Racing event each Thursday which attracts up to 100 boats. The racing courses around Lyminton are considered quite challenging due to the strong tides in the Solent and around the Isle of Wight.

Lymington - Tourist Attractions

Local tourist attractions and sights of interest in and around Lymington include:

• Lymington Old Quay - popular area of the town with restaurants, shops and pubs and departure point for various boat tours and cruises around the Solent.
• Quay Street - part of the old town of Lymington, a narrow street lined with traditional buildings and various boutique shops.
• Buckland and Buckland Rings - Iron Age hillfort dating from the 4th century BC on the outskirts of Lymington and Scheduled Ancient Monument in a conservation area. Also in the area are Passford Farm (Grade II) to the Toll House Inn and including the 16th century manor house (Grade II) and the Avenue of Lime Trees.
• Buckler's Hard - 8 miles east of Lymington this was an important shipbuilding yard on the Beaulieu River, now a museum village.
Hurst Castle - about 5 miles west of Lymington this castle and sea defence was built in the times of Henry VIII at the end of a shingle spit that extends 1.5 miles from Milford-On-Sea.
• Lymington-Keyhaven Nature Reserve - important ecological reserve covering nearly 200 Ha (500 acres) between the mouth of the Lymington river and the village of Keyhaven.
• Roydon Woods - covering 950 acres this is part of the New Forest Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Site of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the New Forest.
• Sammy Miller Museum - found near New Milton, 7 miles west of Lymington, the museum houses one of the finest collection of fully-restored motorcycles in Europe, many of them extremely rare.
• Spinners Garden - A woodland garden on a slope overloooking the Lymington River valley, with Rhododendrons, Magnolias, Camellias, Japanese Maples, Hydrangeas and other rare shrubs, interplanted with a wide variety of choice woodland and ground cover plants located near Friars Wood about 2 miles north of central Lymington.
• St. Barbe Museum & Art Gallery - museum and art galleries exploring the unique history of Lymington and the New Forest Coast, it also contains the Lymington Tourist Information Centre.
Lepe Country Park - seaside park with views across the Solent from Hurst Castle to Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower, contains a children's play area, picnic areas, barbecues, toilets, parking and a café.

Lymington Tourist Information Centre (TIC)
St Barbe Museum & Visitor Centre,
New Street,
Lymington,
Hampshire SO41 9BH
Phone: 01590 689000
Email: information@nfdc.gov.uk
Web: thenewforest.co.uk

Road: Lymington just outside the southern edge of the New Forest on the coast facing the Isle of Wight. It is about 19 miles east of Bournemouth and 12 miles east of Christchurch on the A337. From Lyndhurst take the A337 10 miles south. From Southampton, follow the A35 first to Lyndhurst and then the A337 as above.
Train: Lymington Town Station or Walhampton, Lymington Pier & Ferry Station for the Lymington - Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) Ferry.
Ferry: Lymington Pier & Ferry Station with regular sailings to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight.