A top-150 campsite 45 minutes from Southampton

If you are looking for a weekend away from Southampton that does not involve a long drive, the New Forest is hard to beat. A Hampshire campsite just 45 minutes from the city has made it onto the list of the UK's top 150, and it is being billed as 'The New Forest's best-kept secret'. Whether you are a seasoned camper or just fancy a night under canvas, it is a convenient base for exploring a National Park that is right on your doorstep.

The New Forest itself is an ancient landscape, more than 1,000 years old, and it has been a Royal Forest since William the Conqueror declared it his 'nova foresta' in 1079. Today it covers 566 square kilometres, with roughly 146 kilometres of broad-leaved woodland and 118 kilometres of scrub and grassland. It is home to more than 7,000 animals, including the famous wild New Forest ponies, deer, and the only native cicada in Great Britain, Cicadetta montana. The park was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1969 and gained full national park status on 1 March 2005, with the New Forest National Park Authority coming into being the following day. Pipers Wait, near Nomansland, is the highest point at 129 metres.

Once you have set up camp, there is plenty to do. The villages of Lyndhurst, Brockenhurst, Beaulieu and Buckler's Hard are all worth a wander, and the Beaulieu Motor Museum, the New Forest Wildlife Park, the New Forest Deer Safari and the New Forest Reptile Centre are all within easy reach. For something more active, there is archery, clay pigeon shooting, Go Ape and Segway. If you want to see the wildlife up close, the viewing platform near Bolderwood Ornamental Drive is the place to go, where deer are fed between 12:00 and 14:30 during the summer. And if you are after a bit of history, the Knightwood Oak is one of the oldest trees in the country, at over 400 years old.

A few things are worth knowing before you go. Wild camping is not permitted, and fires and barbecues are banned except at private campsites and caravan parks, though portable gas camping stoves have been allowed since Thursday 20 August. Feeding the animals is also not permitted. There are more than 150 car parks across the forest, many of them free, and the New Forest Tour Bus, a hop-on-hop-off service, runs through July and August. The speed limit is 40 mph, so take your time and enjoy the scenery.

If you are still weighing up where to pitch up, the forest has plenty of options. Holmsley, near Christchurch, is well-equipped with full facilities, battery charging, motorhome support, showers, shops, toilets and an EV charging point, and it welcomes dogs and seasonal pitches. Roundhill and Ocknell both take group bookings of more than ten pitches in their rally fields, and Ashurst, near Lyndhurst, does the same. Long Meadow, near Brockenhurst, is adults only and comes with showers, shops, toilets and WiFi, while Longbeech, near Fritham, is also adults only. Hollands Wood and Setthorns, near Sway, are both dog-friendly with shops and seasonal pitches, though Setthorns has no toilets. It is a great excuse to get out of the city for a weekend and see a part of the country that is closer than you might think.