Lyndhurst Through the Beer Glass Pt 4 - New Forest Inn

We walked along the New Forest single track lane though, contrary to the impression given by this photo, all was not peace and tranquility.  Every few minutes the silence was punctuated by vehicles rushing past, using the lane as a ‘rat run’ to avoid the Lyndhurst traffic jam, and causing us to retreat regularly into the hedgerow to avoid being mown down...

But having successfully dodged the traffic, a sign pointing to civilisation soon appeared as we arrived in Emery Down.

We past Christ Church nestling against the trees and walked through the village....

...past the black and white timbered Alms Houses...

...and the next pub appeared in the distance...

As we drew near to The New Forest Inn and saw the orderly queue forming outside, we were initially concerned that it might be busy....

...however we needn’t have worried, it wasn’t crammed with New Forest ponies, and there was just a smattering of New Forest folk/tourists*delete as appropriate.  

I couldn’t resist trying the Piddle Brewery First Try, a ‘dark IPA, but as a dark, pale ale, is a bit of an oxymoron, perhaps it should really be an IDA, India Dark Ale.  As it happens it was my first try of this beer and I wasn’t going to be put off by the lady serving who explained that customers responses had been mixed - bit of a ‘marmite’ beer then.  It wasn’t too bad, but perhaps a bit too heavy on the roast malt flavour for the black IPA style.

The New Forest Inn is a nice country pub in a lovely little village, I liked the milk churn bar stools too...

...though I was much less enthusiastic about the ‘Book Now for Christmas’ display which seemed so inappropriate on a warm and sunny September day.  Resisting the temptation to 'book early to avoid disappointment', we wandered off to continue the walk.