New Forest Walks - Walks from Lyndhurst

This walk passes along Beechen Lane and through Park Ground Inclosure, Park Hill, and Denny, Little Holmhill and Pondhead Inclosures.

The Route

Tree felling in Park Ground Inclosure
The Forestry Commission advise that tree felling work will be undertaken in Park Ground Inclosure throughout October, November and December, 2010. The precise location of the work will vary, but many paths will be impassable.

Update, September 2011:
Tree felling is still on-going in Park Ground Inclosure. Hard wood is being extracted and stacked along Beechen Lane (between cycle track sign numbers 36 and 37). The Beechen Lane cycle route is still open, but walkers and cyclists should be aware of heavy machinery using the tracks. Warning signage is in place.

1. Leave the village centre and walk south along Gosport Lane until Goose Green is reached. Take the left fork towards Brockenhurst, and beside Foxlease Bridge, pass the site of the now-demolished turnpike cottage.

Turn left opposite the entrance to Foxlease, the Girlguiding UK Training and Activity Centre.

2. Pass immediately on the right the old thatched Glenber Cottage, and continue straight ahead along Beechen Lane until the woodlands at Clayhill are reached.

Immediately before the wide Forestry Commission vehicle gate across the gravel track leading straight ahead, turn right through the smaller, pedestrian gate to take the path around the edge of Park Ground Inclosure. Follow this as it swings left, pass the garden of the Crown Stirrup inn - a good place, maybe, for early refreshments - and continue on past the rear of a number of cottage gardens until a grassy T junction is reached.
 
3. Turn left here, and then immediately right beside the New Forest keeper's wood shed. Follow this track as it bends round to the left, go straight ahead at the next cross-road of tracks, and eventually leave the inclosure through a gate leading to a strip of unenclosed woodland.

4. Turn left here to follow the drift-way between Park Ground Inclosure and Parkhill Inclosure.

Reach a gravel track – this is Beechen Lane again – and turn right. (The Salt Way followed the drift-way as it continues on between Pondhead Inclosure and the ancient, unenclosed woodlands of Park Hill). Notice here also the rounded, badly eroded earthen bank running at right-angles to the lane. This is the Park Pale that once enclosed Lyndhurst Old Park.
 
5. Continue up a gentle incline with Parkhill Inclosure on the right, and ancient, unenclosed woodland on the left. A slight detour here will reveal the area of man-made pits - marl, clay or gravel diggings - referred to earlier. Follow the lane until a T junction is reached, with, ahead, a narrow stretch of heathland.

6. Turn left at this junction, go through a gate and continue down the track through the coniferous woodland of Denny Inclosure. Pass a turn on the right and, behind a narrow screen of conifers, an area of re-generating clear-fell. Reach the broad-leaved trees of Little Holmhill Inclosure, ignore turns to left and right, and follow the path straight on into this woodland. Go down a gentle incline and through a gate.

7. Turn left immediately after the gate, and follow the path beside the inclosure fence. Notice along here the ‘creeps’ created by deer that pass below the fence. To the right, running parallel with the path, hidden amongst the trees, is a small stream flanked by alders, many of which have in the past been coppiced. This stream has at some time been straightened and deepened to reduce the risk of flooding.

Go through a gate, turn right along a grassy track and continue straight ahead until a further gate is reached giving access to Parkhill Lawn, an area of heath and grassland.

8. Go through the gate and continue straight on across the lawn, following a wide, grassy ride skirting on the left the ancient, unenclosed woodland of Park Hill. Follow the ride as it bends right, towards a small bridge across a narrow stream. Cross the bridge and continue straight ahead over the lawn. Pondhead Farm is on the right, and across the fields to the left is the relatively recently rebuilt and extended Lime Wood hotel - on the site of the old Parkhill Hotel.

Eventually join and follow a wider track – this again is on the route of the old Salt Way. Continue straight ahead, after a short distance pass on the right a red-brick cottage, cross a small bridge over a stream and follow the now gravel track as it bends left for a short distance to reach the Beaulieu Road.

9. Turn left for a very short distance, along the drive leading to Lime Wood, but go right just before entering the hotel grounds. Follow the path through a patch of bracken, and go through the first gate on the left into Pondhead Inclosure.
 
Continue along this grassy ride, and cross a bridge over a small stream. Notice here how invasive rhododendrons have been cleared from the woodland floor – the flowers make a fine show but the plants are of little use to wildlife, and shade out other species.

Follow the path as it bends round to the right. Notice in this part of the wood the stands of coppiced hazel of varying ages.

10. Reach a staggered crossroad of tracks under the spreading boughs of a giant sweet chestnut tree. Turn right then immediately left to follow a narrow path through the coppice. Reach a gravel track and turn left.

Pass another quite wide track on the left, and continue on until Beechen Lane is again reached, and with it, the start of the woodland part of the walk route. From there, retrace your steps back to the village centre.