Lepe, Hampshire

Lepe is a small settlement on the Solent in the English county of Hampshire. At the 2011 Census the settlement population was included in the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe. It is located at the mouth of the Dark Water, and is the site of the Lepe Country Park, which runs from Stanswood Bay to the mouth of the Beaulieu River.OverviewLepe is a hamlet on shore of the Solent. It is part of the civil parish of Exbury and Lepe, which in turn is part of the New Forest district of Hampshire. It is home to Lepe Country Park, with a mile of beach, pine-fringed cliffs, historic D-Day remains, and wild flower meadows. There is a cafe-and-shop open all year round.From the cliff tops above the beach, commanding views of the Western Solent can be achieved resulting in a lookout position for Solent Rescue Independent Lifeboat station being placed there. Inchmery Quay lies to the west.HistoryIt is sometimes said that Lepe was a port in Roman times. The evidence for this is the apparent route of a Roman road, which ran down the eastern side of the New Forest, from the Totton area to Lepe.