Furzey Gardens — Attraction in New Forest

Keep your eyes open for the signage for the gardens when you are driving to them as they can be easily missed at times and our Sat nav was not certain as to where it was directing us.

Good parking and easy entrance to the gardens.

We were met at the entrance by a lovely lady who explained where we needed to go. I am disabled and I use an electric wheelchair. So she advised me on some paths not to take as they would be difficult in the chair. A map of the gardens can be downloaded or printed off before you go. At the moment there is a one way system in place around the gardens, so we just followed the arrows.

I would say that the paths are narrow and all gravel. My chair managed okay but it is a bumpy ride and one tight turn going down a slope was a bit scarey. This is near the start of the route.

I think it would be hard work for anyone to manoeuvre a manual wheelchair around the gardens and my husband was certainly relieved that we didn't take ours. A mobility scooter would have found it difficult along some of the paths too as they are narrow, my chair just fit, but my hand was scraping bushes at times.

The gardens are beautiful though, with some lovely autumnal colours this time of year. The one way route also enables you to see it all.

The tea rooms have restrictions in place due to Covid and because of this you can't sit inside. There are a few tables, undercover on the verander, which is a lovely place to sit. We had a nice scone and coffee.

Toilets are inside the cafe and it does mean one at a time, which can take a while. The disabled toilet is here too, which is easy to get in and out of.

Definitely recommend the gardens, they are lovely and I think there will always be something different to see throughout...

I wish I didn't have to leave this place! Luckily, there's a house inside the grounds that you can rent out of you're like me and want to stay there for a while. Maybe one day, I'll take up that amazing offer!

The staff are amazing, you can tell they're all very happy where they work and are proud to say they work there! Even the people who volunteer are happy!

I just love that they employ people with disabilities there too, I have worked with people who have disabilities and find them to be the most wonderful people, but where I worked with them, it was in a centre, not like a proper job place, so I love this place even more because they really do give people who have disabilities a proper purpose and let them into the working world instead of them being in an activity centre where they can do stuff that kids do, here they get to make jams and chutneys, gardening and all sorts of real life work, instead of being in the same mundane four walls. Well done to furze gardens 👏 you have nailed it! They also get to interact with the public, all ages, which is another brilliant experience for them. Definitely done right!

The grounds are extremely well looked after, very clean all round and no weeds - that I know of but then I don't know my gardening haha if there were weeds, they were pretty ones lol!

It's literally like being in wonderland!

Lovely themes too, to keep the children entertained! And they also get to learn lots too!

I cannot recommend his place enough!

If heaven is a place on...

Lovely quaint gardens with the added magic of Fairy doors. My 5 year old was enthralled by the fairies and the magic around the gardens. Over the summer they've had a additional children's trail; Fairytale at Furzey. This is 15 large boards depicting fairytales with a "head space" to pop your head through for a photo.

There is a play area too with a fairy house, climbing area swings etc

The gardens have a lovely, calm and relaxing.

The tea rooms offer a decent selection of food with vegan options and were accommodating of allergies with both premade sandwiches and snacks as well as cooked items like Jacket Potato and bacon rolls and natchos and Vegan sausage rolls . Lots of gluten free options are available too and Soya and Oat alternative milks.

There are plenty of shady picnic spots with benches of you want to bring your own or 'take away'

Accessibility Huge bonus is that entry is free for anyone with a disability or who is a carer and they dont require specific evidence so you can use what you have.

The car park has quite a few Blue badge spaces too.

The paths are relatively smooth but there are lots of little paths and steps etc with are less accessible, I suspect you'd struggle to get much benefit in a wheelchair (certainly sel propelled) as the paths are often too narrow. Same would be true of a double buggy.

As someone with restricted mobility, I found the main paths easy to manage. The tea rooms are wheelchair accessible and there is a disabled bathroom too but is a little...