We're about to go to the New Forest on holiday, and I remembered this book all about the place.
I'll take it with me, read it, and there's a good chance I might leave it behind for the next people at the house we're staying at.

Well I'm back home and so is the book :-)
I hadn't actually read this, but picked it up while away to see what it was about, and ended up bringing it back to finish it.
It's a large book, hardback and 600 pages, and is basically a set of short stories set in the New Forest, at various points in history, showing how English history as a whole affected and was affected by this particular area of the country (near Southampton, on the south coast).
The first story deals with the death of William Rufus, son of William the Conqueror, killed accidently/murdered in the forest. Others deal with Beaulieu Abbey, the port of Lymington and the English Civil war. I'm not sure yet how up to date it comes. Now I'm back home I'm finding it a little hard going, but the characters and stories are interesting enough for me to want to keep going.

This book would be of particular interest to anyone who knows the area and is interested in learning a little of its history.