Visit to Bisterne Manor
Bisterne Manor is a beautiful home, set in a 4000 acre estate in the New Forest. Since 1349 only four families have lived at Bisterne and all four are closely related. The heart of the present-day house was built in 1520. Two wings were added in 1652 and in 1834 and in late Victorian times the house was altered again.
Owned by Hallam and Lal Mills, it is not open to the public, but Hallam and Lal showed us around the house and told us about its history, describing life below stairs as well as above. The Manor is very much a family home but it contains many beautiful paintings and fine furniture, partially acquired when Francis Mills, an ancestor, went on his 19th century Grand Tour. There are a variety of fascinating objects which reflect the family’s history, for instance from the Peninsula War, as well as their roots in England, Belgium and America.
Hallam is very much a hands-on dairy and arable farmer at Bisterne Farms. He is a former Verderer of the New Forest and is a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire. Hallam and his Game and Wildlife Manager described some of the conservation work which has become so important at Bisterne – in 2024 they counted 122 different species of birds including curlews, lapwings, red shanks and woodcock – and they have reintroduced the water vole as well as running many other conservation projects.