Blackwater : Tall Trees Trail

Start/finish: Blackwater car park, Grid ref. SU 268 047

(S/E) To start the Tall Trees Trail go under the oak archway, cross over the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive and the start of the trail is a few metres up the gravel track. This Forestry Commission trail is a waymarked walk. Just follow the waymarker posts to enjoy an easy to follow route for all. (S/E)

Start/finish: Blackwater car park, Grid ref. SU 268 047

Ordnance Survey map: Explorer OL 22 New Forest

Getting there: No public transport links, parking at Blackwater car park.

Note: This Forestry England trail is a waymarked walk. Just follow the waymarker posts to enjoy an easy to follow route for all.

Local facilities: Blackwater car park has space for 50 cars with two spaces reserved for disabled visitors. It has toilets and disabled access toilets, picnic tables, bike racks and an information point.

Accessibility: The path is a fairly smooth gravelled surface and is level with frequent resting places and no gates. The narrowest width along the route is 1.1m at the chicane barriers where the trail crosses the road. There is one bridge which is 1.5m wide with handrails and 1m wide anti-slip covering (grid reference: SU 267 047)

Note: Please be aware of the New Forest Code when walking in the National Park.]

Find more information and walks at New Forest National Park here.

Stimulate your senses on this short trail around the Forestry England’s Blackwater Arboretum, with its small but nationally important collection of trees from all over the world. Sensory information boards along the trail provide fascinating facts about the tallest, heaviest and toughest trees in the world. This walk takes you past majestic conifers planted in the 1850s, some of the oldest Douglas fir trees in Britain and includes views of two enormous redwoods.

Blackwater has some of the oldest and most striking firs in all of the New Forest. These impressive trees were planted in the 1850s to create what is now known as Rhinefield Ornamental Drive.