Why Lymington?
Lymington is the perfect place for a group of young students to explore:
- It's safe. It is a small, friendly town where your students can safely experience life in England.
- It's interesting. It has a quay and marina. The New Forest and the Isle of Wight are nearby.
- It's beautiful. It has ancient salt-pans, nature reserves and seaside walks.
- It's fun. It has openair swimming, sailing, tennis, and a cinema.
- It's under two hours from London on the train!
A small friendly town on the south coast of England, Lymington is a beautiful, safe, typically English town in Hampshire, on the south coast between Southampton and Bournemouth.
It's also very easy to get to lots of other fantastic places from Lymington - including Stonehenge, Southampton, Bournemouth and the New Forest.
It's easy to get to London - and the main London airports - from Lymington.
Activities and Excursions
See our Group activities page for information about how we can help to arrange activities for your group.
Local places you can visit on foot
Lymington High Street
Lymington has a very attractive High Street set on a hill that goes through the centre of town. Great shops, including lots of independents, plus cafés, pubs and supermarkets. There is a weekly market on Saturdays
Lymington Quay
Lymington is on the river Lymington close to where it meets the sea. The Quay is a great place to pass the time of day, with shops and cafés set along typical cobbled streets. You can watch small and larger boats (including the ferry to the Isle of Wight) about their business about on the water.
Walk along the Solent Way
The Solent is the area of water between the Isle of Wight and England and there is a footpath along it. The walk from Lymington to Keyhaven is especially beautiful, with views across to the Isle of Wight and, inland, bird reserves where you can see a very wide range of birds both resident and migratory.
Other places to visit in Lymington:
Sea-water pool and waterpark
A unique swimming pool fed from the sea, so very healthy! Also has waterslides and lots of other fun stuff!
Parks
Lymington is rich in beautiful parks where you can play games or just chill out!
Easily reached by coach or public transport
London
London is under 2 hours away – the branch line from Lymington to Brockenhurst (7 minutes) takes you to the Bournemouth-London mainline, from which regular fast trains take 1.5 hours to get to Waterloo station, very near the London Eye and Westminster.
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is famous for its 10 kilometres of sandy beaches. At either end, to the East and West, there are beautiful nature reserves set around the two harbours, Christchurch and Poole.
Brockenhurst
Just 7 minutes on the train and you are in Brockenhurst, one of the New Forest’s most attractive villages, in the middle of the Forest, with lovely open areas where you can see the famous ponies which run free.
Other places you can visit by train or coach
- Southampton
- Christchurch
- Stonehenge/Salisbury
- Dorchester (Thomas Hardy’s “Casterbridge”)
… and many other places of interest.
Visits by mini-bus or coach:
(places not easily visited by public transport)
- Beaulieu & Bucklers Hard on the river Beaulieu
- Paultons Park – Theme Park
Other local activities
Tennis – there are lots of public tennis courts.
Golf – organised by arrangement, including group sessions where students are taught the basic shots.
Sing-songs – we can organise a young guitarist to meet your group and get them singing some English songs!
Saturday market in the High Street
Transport options
Getting around is easy for groups based in Lymington.
On foot
Lymington itself is a small town, and the centre, Quay and Marina area can easily be visited on foot. For groups wanting to walk further, there are also fantastic countryside itineraries on foot of between 3 and 15 kilometres.
Local bus
You can visit some very interesting and attractive towns, for example Keyhaven, Milford-on-sea and Christchurch. In summer, there is a special New Forest bus, which is a “hop-on, hop-off service you can use to visit some of the most interesting places in the Forest. Fares are reasonable, though more expensive than similar journeys in most other countries.
Train
Lymington has connections (from Brockenhurst) with
- London
- Bournemouth
- Brighton
- Portsmouth
- Southampton
- Dorchester (Thomas Hardy country) … and many other places of interest.
Train travel in the UK is not cheap, but special fares are available for groups.
Coach
A private coach gives you total flexibility and is the best option for groups of 30+