You see the tower before you see the village. Peterson's Tower stands 66 metres over Sway's southern approach, a concrete needle built between 1879 and 1885 by Andrew Thomas Turton Peterson, a retired Calcutta judge who had made his money in India. It is the first major building in Britain made entirely of concrete, and still the tallest non-reinforced concrete structure in the world. Peterson wanted a light at the top. Trinity House forbade it, in case passing ships mistook it for the coast.
He built it, he said, partly to give local men work, and partly under the guidance of the spirit of Sir Christopher Wren, whom Peterson — a spiritualist — claimed to consult. It was meant to be his mausoleum.
The village underneath is a good deal calmer. Sway sits on the southern edge of the New Forest, with open heath running right up to it, and it is second only to Brockenhurst for the sight of ponies and donkeys wandering where they like. In autumn the pigs come out for pannage season and get on with clearing the acorns.
The pub to know is the Hare and Hounds at Durnstown, a family-run coaching inn about 200 years old. Its Sunday roasts are rated among the best in the Forest — beef, pork or turkey, or the "famous trio" of all three with the trimmings. There's an extensive vegetarian and gluten-free menu, a beer garden, a children's play area, and a dedicated dogs' menu. Dogs get their own beds, blankets and biscuits in the bar, on the condition they stay on a lead and off the furniture.
The Silver Hind on Station Road is a free house with a restaurant under chef Carl Munroe, working seasonal and local produce. The building dates from 1909, when it was a cottage for the village District Nurse. Out at Tiptoe there's the Plough, a country pub doing game and daily specials, and the Manor at Sway, an Edwardian house turned country-house hotel that dresses its tables with produce from its own kitchen garden.
For provisions, Sway Butchers on the High Street is award-winning and makes its own pies and pastries. Just outside the village, Setley Ridge is a farm shop and vineyard selling local bread and vegetables alongside its own red, white and rosé; Marlings Vineyard, up the road and about thirty years established, won Wine of the Year in 2019.
The walk into Brockenhurst is 6.6 miles, flat-ish, using a stretch of the disused Southampton and Dorchester Railway line. It crosses Hinchslea Bog, so it wants dry weather. Along the old line, Holmsley Station is now the Old Station Tea Room.
Getting here is easy: Sway has its own station on the South West Main Line, five minutes from Brockenhurst and about two hours from London Waterloo. Lymington and its Saturday market are four miles down the road.
St Luke's Church is Victorian, built in phases and finished in 1913. Sway means "noisy stream" in Old English, after Avon Water. In the smuggling years the village sat on a run from the coast up to Beaulieu, and the vicar reportedly called his parishioners "little better than bandits."
The Working Men's Club has been going since 1921. Women were first let in during 1954, for the darts nights.