Awakening All Around
At the risk of becoming boring on the subject of spring, I am LOVING its beginnings, taking place at pace all around us this week! And the 'Worm' full moon rising and residing in totally clear skies on both Monday and Tuesday nights was spectacular. Birdsong has hit new heights with my absolute favourite the handsome blackbird dominating the chorus with his communicative ditties. In fact he's been singing his joyful song seemingly almost wherever I have been this week: from garden to park, field to hedgerow, coastal walk to deep woodland and even the open heath, if there's a small tree or even a gorse bush where he can find his preferred perch higher up than everyone else. One of our commonest birds, blackbirds can be seen all year-round; most are resident and with over 5 million pairs breeding in the UK, none of us should have too much trouble finding one or two to delight us!
The New Forest National Park's New Forest 'Awakening' Festival is meanwhile underway and runs throughout the month of March. I've set up a general notice about it on our Events Calendar, if you click on from there you'll find individual events on their website.
The Greatest Mother's Day Gift Of All
What will most mothers appreciate more than almost anything else on Mother's Day next Sunday? Love comes high up the list of course but assuming that's a given, perhaps even more important is the gift of time. Precious time to indulge with the ones she loves - and make memories to treasure in the year to come. And what could be better, than for everyone to be cosseted and treated to a delicious lunch or afternoon tea, in warm, welcoming, spacious and comfortable surroundings.
Into this delightful prospect, the picturesque Montagu Arms in Beaulieu has a range of tempting offerings to propose: from a relaxed and unhurried Mother's Day Lunch made from locally sourced seasonal ingredients at Monty's Inn, to an elegant and indulgent Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea in the Terrace Restaurant, to a gift voucher so that she can choose when to spend that precious time!
MOTHER'S DAY AT THE MONTAGU ARMS
More Awakenings!
Spring events are now being added to the Events Calendar and some are a little 'different' to say the least.
For example, on 18 March New Forest Fruit is holding a special event: - an interactive blind wine tasting event which puts English wine head to head with the world, with three 'B58 wines' which will go head-to-head with three surprise challenger wines from around the world. No snobbery, just great wine and plenty of laughs! Click here to join B58 Wines - Battle of the Wines
(New Forest Fruit's asparagus is rapidly awakening as well - I bought some at our brilliant local community shop Chapel Stores in East Boldre, and it's a winner!)
Talking of which, Chapel Stores' recent 2026 Marmalade Competition was a winner too: another fun community event for the village, this time with fundraising for the Village Hall renovations. Left to right in the photo below are Stuart Newey (overall champion), Linda Dearing (winner of exotic class) Jeremy Bennett (the judge), Alison Moore-Gwyn (2nd in exotic class) and Maureen Medley (3rd place). Clare Poynter's 2nd placed marmalade is also 'in place' on the table!
Coming Up
This coming Sunday 8 March it's a shout out to all ages and abilities to join the fun at Everton & Lymore Social Club and Let's Dance!, supporting New Forest Hospital Radio with a drop in disco aerobic & movement session, with entry by donation and refreshments available to buy.
If you're planning a wedding or even just in the very early stages of thinking about it, do get along to Sunday's Wedding Showcase at Balmer Lawn Hotel. It's such a perfect forest venue!
On the evening of 18 March there's another talk at the Countryside Education Trust: New Forest Water Watch about the New Forest Friends of the Earth initiative to promote citizen science water quality monitoring within the National Park.
There's an interesting sounding talk by the RNLI coming up on 31 March: The Anatomy of a Shout, being held at Royal Lymington Yacht Club with an optional supper to follow.
New Forest Marque is looking for a new Chair of Directors. Their ideal candidate will love the Forest and also understand the needs of small businesses. Please click here for details.
And finally, do take a look at Hammersley Homes' latest fundraising enterprise on 28 March: ULTRACK 50 - run for long-term mental health support. They're looking for teams and individuals to take part, and sponsorship too. More on this next week!
Wishing you all a very enjoyable weekend,
Best wishes Jane
Read the rest of this week's newsletter here
And check out What's On in the Diary of Upcoming Events!
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