Beaulieu Heath and Hatchet Pond

(S/E) At the rear of Norleywood car park, pass through a wooden gate into the woods. Follow the path to your left, which then follows a ride between the trees.

The path bends slightly right and crosses a wider track. Continue to another broad, stony track and again cross and continue straight on, this time onto an unsurfaced track with deep ruts.

At a junction bear right, along a similar rutted track with tall pines on either side that shrinks almost to a mere path. When this bends left, take a slightly obscure grassy path ahead that leads through birches to a gate.

(1) Turn left along the edge of the wood in a widening wedge of open land. At the corner of the wood, carry straight on along a scant stone-studded track that descends to cross the Crockford Stream.

(2) Ford the shallow gravelly stream and climb the bank opposite, aiming just left of Shipton Holms, a small wood. The path becomes indistinct; bear right beyond the wood to meet a slightly more obvious grassy track running from behind the wood and joining from your right; turn left through the gorse.

(3) At a slight fork, keep right on the more obvious track. Eventually the track meets the B3054 road; turn right. After 400 yards, turn left along the entrance road to Beaulieu Heath car park.

Turn right at a junction after 250 yards and follow the track to the car park. Cross the grassy area at the end of a former runway of RAF Beaulieu and pick up the metalled road beyond.

(4) Before the gorse bushes close in on either side of the track, 70 yards or so after the barrier, turn right across the grass to pick up an indistinct path leading through the gorse towards an isolated mature birch tree.

The path becomes more distinct as it continues parallel to the road and Hatchet Pond comes distantly into view. The path descends slightly to meet a wider path; turn left and descend (boggy in places) to the bottom of the shallow valley above Hatchet Pond.

(5) Cross the stream and turn right at a path junction, towards the pond. At the next junction, turn right to follow a path parallel to the shore of Hatchet Pond.

Follow the wooded shore as it curves left, then bear right, round the top of the pond, to join the B3055.

(6) Follow the road to the car park entrance and then cross over; a path leads across the grassy heath, gradually approaching Furzey Lane, the minor road that serves the houses on your right.
Turn left and follow the road between the cottages.

(7) Turn left along the gravelly track to Rans Wood Car Park. Beyond a barrier, follow the track as it descends into the shallow valley of Worts Gutter.

(8) Beyond a gate, cross the stream and after a few paces turn left, off the track, onto a green path across rushy ground with the small stream on your left. The path meets a perpendicular track after 500 yards; cross and carry on along the valley with the stream still on your left.

(9) At the next crossing track, the path continues from the bridge, right next to the stream, but becomes narrower and less distinct as it winds through open birch woodland. Eventually you meet a wide graveled track at a fork; take the track ahead of you, passing a post numbered 337.

Ignore a grassy track on the left with a ford, continuing along the main track. Cross a perpendicular track below post number 332. The track now winds straightforwardly to a gate onto the B3055.

(10) Turn right and follow the road for 250 yards, then cross to a gate after a right-hand bend. The track ahead winds into the wood; after 200 yards, turn left (if you meet a fork, you’ve gone too far).

This path leads along the left-hand side of a vague clearing and eventually emerges at a gate into Roundhill Campsite.

(11) Walk out to the service road and turn left, passing to the left of the water tower (a surviving remnant of RAF Beaulieu). Cross another service road and follow the track ahead, beyond a wooden barrier.
This path continues straightforwardly along the edge of the open heath, with farmland behind the hedge on your right.

(12) After nearly a mile, past the buildings of Little Dilton Farm to the right, the path follows power lines then bears left, before turning right over a slow-flowing stream and then bearing left to resume its former direction. Two tree-lined field corners project towards you; keep to the left of both (ignoring a gravelly track that fords the stream on your left).

As you meet a junction of tracks at a wooden barrier, ignore the ford on your left and the road leading off to the right, taking the track leading ahead past a house on the right. A footbridge on the left bypasses a second ford.

(13) Keep on along the track to another barrier and pass more buildings to the end of another road. Continue past a third barrier; the path becomes indistinct and muddy in places, but keep aiming for Norley Wood and eventually cross a level brackeny area to meet the road on your right.

(14) Follow it to a crossroads and go straight over to return to the Norleywood car park entrance on your left. (S/E)

Car Park Starting from Norleywood car park (a 11⁄2-mile drive from the Walhampton Arms). Occasional boggy spots and rough paths on the heathland. A good sense of direction (or a GPS!) is useful on the heaths and in the woods.

Pdf Link : http://walksfromthedoor.co.uk/i/walks/Ha...

• By car from The Walhampton Arms Pub : Turn right out of the pub car park and follow the B3054 for 11⁄2 miles. Not long after a cattle grid, turn right at a crossroads into Norley Wood Road, then very soon turn left into the car park.

• Hatchet Pond, the largest area of fresh water in the Forest, can be busy at times, but the western and northern shores are quieter.

• Most of the ponies you will see roaming wild in the Forest are mares, foals and geldings. The number of stallions is tightly controlled and their releases limited to spring and summer.

• The moist areas of the forest, such as this at the head of Hatchet Pond, are home to some of the more interesting species of flora and fauna. Sundew grows here, and Redshank and Lapwing breed.

• The oldest open-air lido in Britain, and also one of the largest, the Lymington Sea Water Baths

are Grade II listed.

• The marshes between Keyhaven and Lymington, many of them formed from the remnants of former saltpans, comprise one of the best birdwatching areas on the south coast. Key species include Avocet, Spoonbill, Marsh Harrier and Dartford Warbler. The whole area is an SSSI.

• Keyhaven and Pennington Marshes offer good views of Hurst Castle, built by Henry VIII, and the north coast of the Isle of Wight, including the famous Needles rocks and lighthouse.

• Reed Warblers and the rarer Cetti’s Warbler can be heard along the River Lymington.

• The Solent foreshore and Isle of Wight.

• The Burrard Monument, “one of Britain’s finest obelisks”, commemorates Admiral Sir Harry Burrard Neale (1765–1840), who is thought to have been born at Walhampton House.

The Walhampton Arms
Walhampton Hill, Lymington SO41 5RE
Tel 01590 673113
Web www.walhamptonarmslymington.co.uk
Email contact@walhamptonarms.co.uk