Hythe Village [Town] nestles between the edge of Southampton Water and the New Forest, some 500 yards west of the ‘American Base – RAF Hythe’. The surrounding area is known as ‘The Waterside’. Hythe, with its waterfront, boasts incredible views across Southampton Water, while the village [town] centre, with its Georgian High Street, offers a range of shops, services, traffic-free precincts and parking facilities. There is also a passenger ferry which sails back-and-forth from Hythe Pier to the City of Southampton. The pier itself stretches some 640 meters into Southampton Water and is one of the ten longest piers in the British Isles. In 1922, a narrow gauge electric railway opened in order to take passengers the full length of the Pier.