The New Forest is an area of oustanding wildlife and landscape interest fashioned by human intervention and use over thousands of years. It extends to about five-hundred-and-eighty square kilometresm based on the New Forest Heritage Area boundaru. The human processes that have shaped the landscape over time are well demonstrated by the rich archaeological heritage, particularly from the Bronze Age and Roman Period, and a documented history going back to the 11th century.
The New Forest is a unique cultural landscape that has facilitated the protection of a mosaic of internationally-significant natural habitats, as well as protecting the features which map the social history of exploitation over more than five-thousand years. The continuity of management practices over very long periods, in the case of the New Forest documented, has combined with the natural landform and vegetation to produce cultural landscapes of exceptional importance.