Brockenhurst Circular Walk - 15 Miles

We start this 10&5 in the public car park next to Balmer Lawn. There are plenty of other car parks in the vicinity if this one happens to fill up. We leave in an Easterly direction along Balmer Lawn Road and as the road turns right we carry straight on crossing to the gravel driveway over Balmer Lawn. This carries on a straight path until we turn half left at Standing Hat to skirt the grounds of Victoria Cottage. As we crest this slight rise, we go through the gate and take the right hand fork through Pignal Inclosure. This gravel track continues straight on for half a mile or so. When the track turns left, we take the foot path straight ahead.

We pass through a gate and left onto the causeway between the Pignal Inclosure and the Stubby Copse Inclosure. We follow this up and over the rise, turning left to skirt the grounds of Denny Lodge. Following the gravel tracks we pass three quarters of the way around Denny Lodge and turn left along the side of Denny Cottage.

At the end of the fence we turn half right across the last part of Denny Wood and head out onto the open heath. We cross over the first couple of foot bridges and then turn half left to head towards the next one, rather than the more obvious foot bridge straight ahead. Carrying on we pass over a further foot bridge and continue along the path towards Woodfidley Passage.

As we come into a small clearing we turn right through a large gate to re-enter the Denny Lodge Inclosure. Sticking to the major tracks, we turn left up a slight incline. We then turn sharp right running parallel to the railway. We can here trains passing from time to time even though they are not yet visible.

Continuing along this track we pass a number of other paths until we turn left at the main bridleway towards a foot bridge over the railway. As we continue South the road becomes better and as we decend past the first ridge, we turn right into New Copse Inclosure along a miandering gravel track that runs parallel to the railway.

We turn left near New Copse Cottage. This takes us along the main track to pass on the left of New Copse Cottage South. A short way passed here we cross over the road and head onto the Round Hill caravan and camping ground at Lodge Heath. Past the reception block we turn right onto the tarmac road that runs the length of the site. At the end of the site the road becomes concrete and leads us to two large metal gates. We take the left hand gate as indicated by the helpful sign and continue along this driveway. just before the next gate we turn right and follow the bridlepath. This leads between some farm buildings and then skirts the edge of Dilton Common before climbing up to Dilton Farm. We turn right along a gravel track and continue passing into Newlands Copse through a small gate.

This path leads us down to a ford with a foot bridge near Roydon Manor. Climbing out the other side of the ford, we turn right onto a track. We then take the left hand fork on the track to Dawkins Bottom. Further along we pass the small buildings of Setley Farm.

A little way on the A337 comes into view. Just on the right is the Filly Inn and a welcome lunch.

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We leave the Filly Inn and cross the A337 to the cattle grid. Heading South parallel to the A337 we quickly turn South-West over Setley Plain. We decend towards Three Beach Bottom where we pass underneath the railway bridge. Once under the bridge we head onto a path that turns North-West, away from the road and then runs parallel to the road to pass another railway cutting on a foot bridge. The path continues the other side of the foot bridge until it hits the B3055.

Here we turn almost directly North and pass through a maze of indistinct paths through the gorse and heather. It doesn't matter too much if you lose the path here. Heading for the gravel track that leads to Cater's Cottage keeps us on the right track, passing to the right hand side of the copse at Blackhamsley Hill. Passing behind this copse we continue on the path skirting the West side of Hinchelsea Bog. The path becomes a little indistinct, but we must avoid the temptation to turn towards the bog. Instead we head for a foot bridge that crosses a stream as we pass into Trenley Lawn. The path then becomes better and we turn right heading for Worthys Farm.

We skirt Furzy Hill and turn left to pass in front of the houses at South Weirs. We walk East along the Burley Road for a short stretch and then turn North toward North Weirs passing over the stream on a foot bridge. A we reach the main track we turn right and follow the track for a short while before turning left through a large gate onto a footpath. This takes us between a number of gardens and then turns right to run nest to a road.

A short while later the path joins another one and we turn left to head towards Black Knowl. We turn right onto the path running next to Rhinefield Road. We follow this until we cross and take the path onto Butts Lawn just before the Forest Park Hotel. We follow the gravel path until it fades away. We then follow a line of trees that run parallel to the Butts Lawn Allotments. After this the path becomes indistinct again, but we continue our heading parallel to Meerut Road aiming for a footbridge leading to a small row of houses. We walk around the left hand end of these houses and take the left hand fork that leads us back into the trees. This path soon becomes indistinct, but keeping the tributary and then the river close to our left, we walk onwards. As we approach the road we suddenly come across a small footbridge that lead to a set of concrete steps up to the road an emerges right next to the road bridge.

Crossing the bridge and the road we return to the car park that we set off from.