A pleasant afternoon in Hythe

We recently enjoyed a leisurely visit to the waterfront village of Hythe which lies between the New Forest National Park and Southampton Water. Hythe and it’s surrounding area, known as the Waterside is a fascinating area to explore and steeped in history.

Hythe is also the home of the world’s oldest pier train, trundling up and down Hythe’s famous Victorian pier to catch the ferry, which sails back and forth every half hour between Hythe and the city of Southampton.

If you choose to ride the World's Oldest Pier Train, it will transport you to the pier entrance at Hythe, and after the short ride of 640 metres (2,100 feet) you will have travelled along one of the ten longest piers in the British Isles.

Hythe Pier Railway is Britain’s oldest continuously operating electric pier train, and has been awarded a certificate to that effect by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Hythe offers great locations to view the majestic cruise liners and container ships passing by, to and from the Port of Southampton. In fact, if you click on this photograph and enlarge it, that looks quite a large ship in our photograph. Hythe Marina with its distinctive fishing village style development with restaurants, or the seafront Promenade with its raised boardwalk is a very nice place to walk around.

It was a beautiful day with few clouds in the blue sky, as we enjoyed a leisurely stroll around Hythe’s interesting and unique shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants. It's not a large place ... perhaps that is part of it's charm … we'll definitely go back again.

As we made our way back to the car, I was pleased I'd made the choice of a triple berry summer salad, for our early evening meal, it ended the day perfectly.

You can see more details about the salad here

All the best Jan