Pick-Your-Own Strawberries Near the New Forest

There is a particular pleasure in the first strawberry of the summer — warm from the sun, eaten straight from the row before it ever reaches the punnet, sweeter than anything a supermarket punnet will ever manage. From June the pick-your-own fields around the New Forest fill with low green rows and the unmistakable scent of ripe fruit, and a morning spent bent over them is one of the simplest, happiest things you can do with children in tow.

The good news is that some of the best of them sit barely a few minutes from the door of The Bell Inn at Brook. Below are three farms we would happily send you to, each with its own character — pick a punnet or three in the morning, then let us do the rest of the day's feeding.

At a Glance

• Where: Three pick-your-own farms near the New Forest — Sunnyfields at Totton (around 15 minutes from The Bell Inn), Sopley Farm near Christchurch (around 30 minutes) and Pickwell Farm at Bursledon (around 30 minutes).
• Good for: Families, keen cooks, jam-makers, and anyone who likes their fruit picked by their own hand.
• Allow: An hour or two per farm — longer if there is a farm shop and a café to linger in.
• Season: Strawberries come good from early summer, roughly June through August, with other soft fruit following on. Picking depends entirely on the weather and the crop, so always check the farm's own website or social pages for what is ripe before you set off — Sunnyfields Farm, Sopley Farm and Pickwell Farm each post current availability.

Sunnyfields Farm, Totton

The closest of the three and the easiest to fold into a morning, Sunnyfields sits on Jacob's Gutter Lane in Totton, just west of Southampton and only a short hop from Brook. It is a Soil Association certified organic farm, which means the strawberries you pick have been grown with real care, and the pick-your-own fields run through summer and into autumn with a rotating cast of crops — strawberries and raspberries first, then beans, sweetcorn and, come October, the pumpkins.

• Organic soft fruit in June and July, with plenty more to pick as the season turns.
• A well-stocked farm shop and butchery for anything you fancy taking home.
• Barely fifteen minutes from The Bell Inn — the natural choice for a quick morning's picking.

Sopley Farm, near Christchurch

A little further west, Sopley Farm sits on Derritt Lane at Sopley, just north of Christchurch, and is a proper day-out sort of place. The strawberries here are the summer draw — July and August tend to be the peak — but the fields also give up raspberries, blackberries, tayberries, currants, gooseberries and, later, plums and pumpkins. There is no entry fee; you simply pay for what you pick, and there is a farm shop, a bakery, toilets and a picnic area if you want to make more of it.

• A wide range of soft fruit, so there is nearly always something to pick through the summer.
• Farm shop, bakery and a picnic area on site.
• Around thirty minutes from Brook, an easy run down towards the coast.

Pickwell Farm, Bursledon

On the eastern side of Southampton at Grange Road, Bursledon, Pickwell is a family-run farm that has been at it since the 1980s and specialises above all in strawberries. Its pick-your-own fields open through the warmer months and take in rhubarb, currants, raspberries, beans, courgettes, sweetcorn and autumn pumpkins alongside the headline fruit, so there is usually a reason to go back. It is a slightly longer drive from Brook, but an easy one along the M27, and worth it for berry-lovers.

• Strawberry specialists, with soft fruit and vegetables following through the season.
• A farm shop for the things you would rather not grow yourself.
• About thirty minutes east of The Bell Inn.

After the Picking, Come Back to the Inn

All that stooping and sampling in the sun works up a genuine appetite. It is a short drive back to The Bell Inn for a proper lunch from our seasonal, best-of-British menu — a plate of something hearty by the inglenook fire, and a well-earned drink after all that picking. It is worth booking a table ahead at weekends, which you can do on our Eat & Drink page or with a quick call. Well-behaved dogs are welcome in the bar and garden — and several of our bedrooms are dog-friendly too — so the whole family, four legs included, is looked after.

And if you have travelled from further afield, the Forest is far too good to see in a single day. Our rooms make a warm and characterful base for exploring the whole Forest, and a night or two turns a good day out into a proper little escape — take a look at our stays, or call the team on 023 8081 2214 and we will help you plan it.