Our Story

Since starting out making fences and gates in an old garage behind the Waterloo Arms pub in 1963, the story of David Wateridge and New Forest Fencing has been a humble one, with quality craftsmanship, hard work, and a strong family at its core.

Today, New Forest Fencing employ over 30 staff and a longstanding, loyal team of subcontractors. Together NFF holds 400 years of collective expertise in the industry. Our services span far beyond the New Forest, Hampshire and Bournemouth, to Kent, Devon, London and Leicester.

Our story starts at the Waterloo Arms pub in Lyndhurst, where David Wateridge, supported by his wife Jackie, and father (and pub landlord) Joe, began creating his own gates and fence panels in the garage behind the pub.

David quickly became well known in the area for his high quality craftsmanship and can-do attitude as he travelled around in his van, installing the different products he had made for his customers.

Humble Beginnings

Through his reputation, he soon outgrew the little old garage at the Waterloo Arms, and set up a new workshop in Ower, before moving to a rural and run down site in Mill lane, Nursling just two years later.

With a vision and ambition for what New Forest Fencing could be, David and Jackie set about building larger outhouses and employing more staff; whilst in the background, raising the next generation of the Wateridge family, with the birth of Darren in 1967, and Michael in ’69. 

David and Jackie’s warmth manifested through the business as they took pride in sponsoring local football and cricket teams, and set about sourcing wood from sustainable sources, with 90% from British woodlands, something that is still true today.​

In 1993 Darren and Michael Wateridge took over the day to day running of the business, after years of shadowing their father and learning the ropes, and becoming fully fledged fencers in their own right. Alongside their wives Karen and Sara, new ambitions and skills were born to NFF as the business has developed even more relationships with customers, suppliers and stakeholders in the surrounding area. 

Today, our main site at Mill lane is an efficient operating timber yard, producing bespoke wood products from fencing, to gates and automation, decking, pergolas, and agricultural solutions on a local and commercial scale.

Two of Darren’s three sons, Dan and Jack, have followed in the family footsteps. They have both become incredibly knowledgeable in their field, as they prepare to take the reigns and take the New Forest Fencing brand to new levels. Together they have secured and successfully delivered large contracts to schools, sports stadiums, marinas and fisheries, and industrial sites.

"At New Forest Fencing we are proud of our heritage and the relationships we have been privileged to build. We are excited to continue doing right by our customers and stakeholders now and into the future, to provide a friendly service that you can trust and rely on."

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