New Forest Walks - Walks from Lyndhurst

This walk follows Pinkney Lane, continues through woodlands and then takes in Queens Meadow and Highland Water.

The Route

From Lyndhurst village centre

1. Leave the village centre at the bottom end of the High Street and walk south along Gosport Lane.

2. At the first fork in the road – Goose Green – go right, and almost immediately after, ignore a road joining from the left, and take the next left fork at the same junction – this is Chapel Lane, the road signposted as the A35 to Christchurch and New Milton.

Immediately on the left here, notice The Old Coach House and the 18th century Old Lodge, both once associated with the nearby Foxlease estate, and the green lane beside Old Lodge, which was once an entrance to Foxlease.

Notice, too, across the road, Foxlease Terrace, for here in the 19th century was a Plymouth Brethren chapel, whilst nearby was a school associated with the same organisation.
 
Continue straight ahead until the 16th century Angels Farm House is reached on the left.

3. Turn left beside the farm house, along Pinkney Lane.

Almost immediately look left across the fields, and Foxlease will be seen, whilst the land on the right was part of the old Cuffnells estate.

After just over 0.5 kilometres, pass on the left a small Victorian lodge behind large white gates – this is the original Wilverley Park lodge.

Follow the lane, eventually up a gentle hill, until a wide, inclosure gate is reached on the left, opposite a property called Deerhurst, and immediately before the lane bears sharply to the right.

From the roadside parking places at the entrance to Brick Kiln Inclosure

4. Pass through the gate into Brick Kiln Inclosure, and continue down a gentle gradient along the gravel cycle track. Ignore turns to left and right, and after 1 kilometre, follow the track as it leaves the woodland to cross Butts Lawn. This horseshoe-shaped piece of heath was maybe once the site of Bronze Age burial mounds, or Tumuli, which once were known locally as Butts.

Notice by the Butts Lawn trackside, a sign advising that fungi picking is not permitted, a reminder that where such signs are displayed, picking, even when for personal consumption, is not allowed. (Commercial fungi picking is not allowed at all in the New Forest).

5. Follow the track round to the right and re-enter a straggle of ancient, unenclosed woodland running between Hursthill Inclosure and New Park Plantation. Continue on for a short distance until a junction of gravel tracks is reached.

Here a sign advises that a Wildlife Conservation Area is about to be entered, and that dogs should at all times be kept on a lead - look out always for the twitch of an ear or flick of a tail that will betray the presence of deer.

6. At the junction, take the right turn into Hursthill Inclosure, almost immediately pass through a gate and continue along the gravel cycle track.

On the right is an old, dilapidated corrugated iron workmen’s’ hut, once used at times for the storage of acorns collected for sale, and behind that, an extensive area of relatively recent clear-fell.

Notice, too, the occasional ride-side patches of heather and cross-leaved heath that betray the heathland origin of much New Forest inclosure woodland.

Follow the gravel track as it passes through the wood, ignoring turns to left and right.

7. Eventually go through a gate to emerge beside the extensive, rush-strewn grassland that is Queens Meadow.

Continue along the track until the next corner of the Meadow is reached, cross a small bridge over a narrow stream, and immediately turn right to follow the stream-side path beside the Meadow. Pass the deer observation tower, and continue alongside the stream into the ancient, unenclosed woodland of Brinken Wood.

8. Cross a small side-stream – there is no bridge, but other than after heavy rain, it is possible to simply step across. Then after another 100 metres, or so, cross another side-stream, this time using the plank bridge provided. Turn half-right shortly after crossing the bridge and continue close to the main channel of the river – Highland Water.

Notice in places along here signs of canalisation - the river’s course is artificially straight, and meanders are present that are no longer connected to the main stream.

Continue on this course for just over 1 kilometre.

9. Turn right to cross the river at the first (and only) bridge and continue straight ahead through the ancient, unenclosed woodland.

Immediately on the right, notice a group of recently pollarded hollies whose trunks have been cut at a height of around 5 feet to encourage re-generation of new growth, leaving initially just the stumps to stand as woodland sentinels.

Look out also for aged beech pollards, trees with multiple trunks shooting from the place where they themselves were cut before in 1698 pollarding was forbidden by law. Moss now adorns the ancient trunks and limbs, and lichens, too. Sheltered from desiccating winds, these superb indicators of air quality thrive in the midst of these often damp woods.

Go on through the woods, ignoring paths to left and right, until on the left, a small Southern Water Waste Water Plant is reached. (Bird enthusiasts might wish to spend a little time here, particularly in winter, for such places often attract goldcrests and grey wagtails to feed on the relatively high number of insects present, and out-of-season chiffchaffs, too).

10. Turn right immediately before reaching the gravel track to the Waste Water Plant, follow the path round to the left and emerge onto a small grassy lawn bordered by bramble patches that in July act as a magnet for butterflies. Nearby blackthorns similarly attract September and October thrushes to gorge on the sloes.

Immediately on the right is the tiny hamlet of Gritnam, the Greteha of Domesday.

Turn left onto the tarmac road, and follow it towards the almost-as-small hamlet of Bank. Pass on the right, standing at right angles to the road, The Cottage, which in the 19th century was the site of the village Reading Room and, for a while, a school.

A little further along, again on the right, pass Annesley, the large house where lived the popular Victorian author Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and immediately before that Annesley Coach House – notice on the turret supporting the weather vane, the initials of John Maxwell, husband of Miss Braddon.

Continue on to The Oak Inn.

11. Turn right at the adjacent ‘T’ junction, into Pinkney Lane. A little way down here, on the right, can be seen Old Cottage, with the date 1600 prominently displayed, and a little further on, on the left set back from the road, the picturesque thatched cottage fittingly known as The Thatch Cottage.

Follow Pinkney Lane back to the entrance of Brick Kiln Inclosure and beyond, Lyndhurst.