Brockenhurst Revisited

After the Cranleigh experience we were on a roll, beautiful sunny Sunday, zooming along through tunnels of oak and walnut trees, everything just so lush and green. These country lanes or A roads are really lovely. Traffic really heavy going the other way though as the end of half term break and everyone heading home Sunday night.

We arrived at the hotel we were looking for and it being quite a lot above our budget asked if they had a special rate for Sunday nights. They did! which was awesome as this particular hotel is now a Spa Hotel but 100 years ago, was where my grandfather George Gower was one of the doctors stationed in the hotel after it was commandeered for the 1st NZ General field hospital during WW1. They basically shipped the whole lot from NZ...medical staff, nurses, theatres and supplies. The building shape is pretty much as it was with interior upgrades....now somewhat more luxurious than when he was there i suspect.
After cheekily getting a great price for the room, I explained why we wanted to stay there and next thing we know we are given an upgrade to the best suite...(thanks for that Grandpa ;)
They gave us a brochure on the history of the hotel which had stories of the locals pushing hospital beds straight up to the hospital from the railway station...about 1km. By the end of the war they had treated 21,000 wounded there. The brochure also said that some guests had reported seeing a ghost at various times..wearing white and complete with stethoscope! it was a special time there...NZ did some great things during those dreadful wars.

The links to home did not stop there though. we went into Brokenhurst village for a look around and sit (and maybe a drink) in the pub that was there 100 yrs ago. the barmaid picked the accent and said "where in NZ are you from, I come from a small town called Te Awamutu"....Nearly dropped my Pims! it was getting more than spooky by then...given TeAwamutu is my hometown and, as it turned out, I went to school with her father and aunt!