People

The individuals who the C4 TV Series “A Year in the New Forest” follow through the seasons, are just a few of the people who live, work and make the New Forest what it is today. Along with lots of other individuals and groups such as the Agisters and Forestry Commission staff, their working practices continue to shape and re-shape the forest. The one thing they all share is a strong belief in, and a commitment to, the New Forest’s conservation and improvement for the benefit of future generations.

Here we meet some of the people who starred in “A Year in the New Forest” and what they have to say about their lives and the forest they love to serve.

Ann Sevier
Ann is a New Forest Commoner with the ancient right of pasture which was established hundreds of years ago by William the Conquer. She grazes her cattle and ponies on the Forest for the summer before they return to the family farm for the winter. It is the grazing of the  Commoners livestock that is vital for the management of the Forest that produces the rare and unique landscape that visitors come to enjoy. Ann's family can trace their heritage back 13 generations when they arrived at Fordingbridge as Flemish weavers.  It is that Commoning heritage that Ann supports and she says ' it is a hard way of life and financially difficult but by continuing the tradition it is part of the living Forest. I love it because every day is unique,  there is something different to do and different to see'.
 

Dave Dibden
Ever since childhood I have had a keen interest in nature. My parents insisted I should have a trade behind me when I left school, so at the time considered myself lucky to be accepted for a carpentry apprenticeship at Husbands Shipyard in Marchwood.  I completed the apprenticeship and this was a good start.  After trying several other jobs I started with the Forestry Commission and knew instantly that this was where my passion was.  After 15 years for the FC I then went self employed which enabled me to have the best of both worlds, by being able to be paid to do part contract work and also be able to pursue my passion for woodland conservation. I began coppicing in Pondhead Inclosure back in 2004 on my own.  It was a really daunting task back then, but I was so determined to make it work.  Some 10 years later I realised that I needed help, so along with a couple of other eager volunteers Pondhead Conservation Trust was formed.  Because it was a registered charity we were able to gain access to grants and purchase a retort and we now produce high quality charcoal from the coppiced wood which is sold locally throughout the New Forest. The income from this ensures financial security for the Trust.  The difference made to the Inclosure is now clearly noticeable and flora and fauna has returned after being absent for many years. I feel absolutely privileged to have the best ‘office’ in the world to work in and wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.

Tom Hordle
I am a young commoner in the New Forest and one of only a few young people keeping cattle here. I have lived here in the forest all my life but unlike most commoners my parents are not commoners. My Great Grandfather was the last commoner in my family, however he passed away 30 years before I was born. Many of the older commoners say, “you’ve got forest in your blood, if you didn’t you wouldn’t be doing it, it’s too harder work”. 

I fell in love with the forest as a young child and would spend most of my time playing and exploring. I started working for a local commoner (Terry Day) at the age of 9 and would cycle up every day after school, on weekends and holidays to help rear calves and feed the cattle. At the age of 11 Terry bought me a calf (Lexy) in return for my help, and she was where my passion for cattle really started, she has been the foundation of my herd today, and is still on the farm at the ripe old age of 17. I continued to help Terry on the farm and with his guidance slowly built up my own forest herd. Terry very sadly passed away in 2016. 

I am now producing high quality, sustainable New Forest beef and selling it to local people and business who truly care about where their meat is from and the quality of life the animals have had. My cattle have one of the most varied and natural diet, freely roaming the Forest grazing young saplings, heather and a whole verity of unique grasses and vegetation, which gives the meat an unrivalled taste. The grazing of the cattle is essential to creating extraordinary habitats that so many other rare and unusual flora and fauna thrive on,which the forest is so special for.

In 2010 after many years of hard work I was lucky enough to buy my own small piece of land on the edge of the forest only a few miles from where I had grown up, and have been slowly building the farm up. The forest in my opinion is the best place to keep cattle, sometimes not the easiest but certainly the best, the animals have over 90,000 acres of natural grazing to free roam, eating what they what and going where they want. The commoners and the animals are the true unsung hero of the forest, being here for over 900 hundred years, farming and managing their animals in the same way, creating this wonderful and special place we know and love today.  

The forest is a magical and fascinating place with an abundance of history and tradition, much of which people don’t even see. It is not an easy place to farm and it is hard to make a living, but it is the only place I want to be.

After the interest shown in ‘A year in the New Forest’ shown on channel 4, I was asked if I was going to provide a few exclusive guided walks as a commoner who lives and farms here to share some of my passion and love for this truly wonderful environment - so here I am to show and explain things that most people over look or do not realise happens here.