Alice in Wonderland in Lyndhurst: Graves, Food and Shopping

While on holiday, we visited Lyndhurst in Hampshire, UK, for lunch and a look around. Along the High Street, there are lots of different shops, from charity shops to more high end independent shops and cafés. Before lunch, we decided to call in at the Church of St Michael and All Angels. It was a sunny day, but a little windy.

I enjoy walking around graveyards for some reason. It was here, I stumbled across a sign saying "Alice Memorial". I didn't have very good wifi in this area, so I couldn't Google it, so I had no idea what it meant.

Around the back of the church, I found an interesting looking grave. Apparently, Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, had lived in Lyndhurst for 50 years after marrying Reginald Hargreaves, and is now buried in this churchyard.

Her gravestone was marked, "The grave of Mrs Reginald Hargreaves. The 'Alice' in Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland'. Now I know what the sign meant. It's good to stumble across something unexpectedly.

After that, we had a walk around the village. The Crown Manor Hotel has been around since the 15th century in one form or another (under different names). It has the oldest lift in Europe, but it is perfectly safe.

I enjoy seeing a bit of yarn bombing, which is a form of crocheted street art. The decorations are mostly placed on post boxes or lamp posts. I think this is advertising a “Great Duck Hunt,” a fun rubber duck trail for Easter.

We only popped into the village for lunch but it turned out to be a much more interesting visit than I expected. It just goes to show that you never really know what you’ll come across when you wander around. And yes, we did have an ice cream before driving back through the forest.