7 Winter walks in the New Forest

The New Forest is a must see location in the UK and we’re very lucky to have the national park on our doorstep in Hampshire with its beautiful scenery and the free roaming animals, its one for all the family. We think the winter months are perfect for a family walk no matter the weather and we encourage you to go out and explore in the colder months too!

Here are 7 must do walks in the New Forest for the winter months that we highly recommend you do!

👉 Wanting to extend your walk into a stay? Here are some highly rated accommodation options!

1. Beaulieu to Bucklers hard

A walk from Beaulieu to Buckler’s Hard

This family friendly walk in this beautiful area of the New Forest is a firm favourite with us. It is a 5 mile walk in total from the village to Buckler’s hard and back and follows a footpath along through countryside and forests with nearby views of the river which it winds past. It normally takes around 45 minutes one way.

Beaulieu is a lovely village with some great independents and they regularly get donkeys strolling through the village.

The Bucklers hard area is free to enter for the general public and there are wide open green spaces to sit and enjoy a picnic or enjoy the nearby pub The Master Builder’s at Buckler’s Hard or small museum. There are great views from the grass area of Bucklers Hard Marina and the river itself with yachts sailing past as well as plenty of wildlife.

We like to enjoy a tasty coffee and white chocolate hot drink from the family run Pallets Tea & Coffee House – Beaulieu for the start of our walk and on return to the village after the walk, we like to enjoy a new forest ice cream from Queens mead Village Shop. Love supporting the local independents and no big chain coffee shops in this village!

Parking – We parked up at the Beaulieu public car park which is pay and display and right in the centre of the village. There are also free public loos be the car park as well as a handy water bottle refill spot.

📍Beaulieu public car park, SO42 7YE

Buggys/wheelchairs – We saw plenty of buggys and it’s a pretty flat footpath.

Route – The route is on the free ‘New Forest Walks’ app which you can download along with plenty of others.

2. Godshill/ Castle Hill / Frankenbury Hill Fort

Castle Hill walk in the New Forest

A firm favourite for families with young kids, this is a 2.5 mile walk which takes around 1.5 hours and has great views, through forest, past streams, plenty of picnic spot options and of course famous new forest wildlife to observe from afar.

You can find the whole route with gps on the free ‘new Forest walks’ app.

SP62LN for free car park we normally park in or type fighting cocks pub in google@maps for public transport options

If you want to know more here’s a video we made about the walk!

If you want to see more of the walk in the winter months, check out this!

3. Rockford common

Here’s a fave trip we love heading on in the west of Hampshire and Rockford common.

Parking up at Rockford common car park you will see the unique Hampshire site of Rockford sandpit looming large where lots of families like to visit for a spot of sand sledging. We saw various successes with young kids trying it out, looked hard to pick up any speed or slide at all so most parents were pulling the kids, but enjoyable all the same.

At the top of the sandpit you can admire great views over Hampshire and neighbouring Dorset county with surrounding lakes and the river Avon. The area behind the sandpit has some brilliant circular walks, both short and longer which are nice and easy to follow. We went for a short 3k stroll taking in lots of wildlife on route including new Forest ponies, and hide and seek in amongst the shrubbery for the kids.

Just near by there is Hockey’s Farm Shop if your peckish after your walk which we highly reccomend!

📍Rockford Common Car Park, BH24 3NF

Rockford common

https://maps.app.goo.gl/KbYNnLTMCSTwU4gR9?g_st=ic

Hockey’s Farm Shop

https://maps.app.goo.gl/nkvgNEPiv3yhRRch8?g_st=ic

👉 Why not extend your stay and explore more of what the New Forest has to offer? Here are some highly rated accommodation options!

4. Fritham

A new forest adventure in Fritham – A pond stroll and perfect ploughman’s at Royal Oak Fritham

We love heading early intro a frosty new forest to enjoy exploring Fritham.

We park up for free at a car park just past the Royal Oak pub SO43 7HJ

We enjoy watching the donkeys go about their daily business in the morning frost before strolling a short five minutes or so down the road to Eyeworth pond to enjoy the stunning views.

This area is wonderful for walkers, cyclists, dog walks, bird watchers, and much more as it’s connected to many other ponds, forested areas and open heathland. Providing lots of options for both shorter and longer routes.

After exploring the pond and surrounding forest area, we have always built up an appetite for another to do on the checklist….

We first became aware of the Royal Oak pub and their famous ploughman’s lunches a few years ago after watching a Fred Sirieix and Chris Baven visit for the BBC’s Remarkable places to eat show a few years back who visited the pub.

The pub normally opens at 11am and to get the coveted firesit table spot as seen on the tv show there is very regularly people waiting outside before opening in order to get this spot, as they do not take reservations so its a first come, first served basis.

We just missed out after arriving ten minutes after opening but luck was on our side as we settled for second best with a nice table in the front bar area which was also near a roasting open log fire which was a welcome sight after a brisk and chilly walk in the forest.

Greeted by a smile by the barman, they had a great selection of beers, ales and bitters from the local area and surrounding counties as well as all the normal favourites. I went for the aptly named royal oak bitter by bowman ales, which was one of the most popular and brewed in droxford, southampton so nice and local.

They keep it simple with the menu here, focusing on ploughmans and a few other light options which means the service is extremely quick, ours came within five minutes of ordering! All the ingredients were fresh and tasty. We went for the cheese ploughmans, of which you choose which type of cheese you’d like, we went for the lyburn, winchester style cheese and for the other we had the ploughmans with pork pie with gammon option, both of which were tasty and were plentiful.

It’s the sort of pub you would bring visiting friends who’ve come from afar and really want to let them experience a really traditional English pub experience with the mix of the ambience, food and drinks.

The pub has a large marque attached to the building which means those with dogs can sit and enjoy a drink or some food, and they also have a large outdoor seating area with picnic tables a plenty so we will certainly be back to enjoy the view over the forest and farm in summer. The family also has three glamping options right next to the pub which locals and tourists alike can enjoy a staycation in the heart of the new forest and of course plenty of enjoyment from this wonderful family run pub.

Enjoy your fritham adventure!

5. Boldrewood deer sanctuary

Boldrewood deer sanctuary, New Forest

This is a nice area to explore with three walk options with coloured markers so easy to follow, free parking, big picnic area with picnic tables in woods and stunning landscape. They have a deer viewing platform with the hope that you will get to see the deer on the hill in the distance. No luck spotting deer on our last visit but if you are there nice and early you may.

Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Dr, Lyndhurst SO43 7GE

6. Ober water / Whitehill Moor

Ober Water is a picturesque stream located in the heart of the New Forest, flowing through its rich woodlands and open heathlands. 🐴🌲

There are two circular walks here with the slightly shorter one being perfect for families. Following gravel tracks through a variety of habitats around the popular Ober Water including heathlands with gorse and bog, grassland, natural and formerly enclosed woodland, and the Ober Water steam itself. It’s the perfect walk to relax and discover some of the amazing nature that the New Forest has to offer.

In September it’s a particularly beautiful time of year as the purple heather carpets the open heathland and there’s lots of blackberry bushes to enjoy some picking for a crumble.

You can park up at Whitefield Moor car park for free which also has the added benefit of having public loos open during the daytime and also some handy information boards on the area and forest in general.

📍Whitefield Moor car park, SO42 7QD

This is one of the many walks you can try in the forest with the free walking routes app by New Forest National Park Authority which you can find here – https://www.newforestnpa.gov.uk/…/free-walking-routes-app/

7. Hale and Woodgreen

This walk is in our favourite region of the New Forest in the north which is generally the quieter area.

A 3 mile walk in Hale, we parked up in the quiet gravel car park with ponies greeting us open arrival.

The wellies and walking boots were certainly a good idea as we found, it’s a wet heathland site so at the damper times of year it is extra wet. But part of the fun, for the kids jumping in those puddles and stomping through.

At the top of the valley at the start of the walk we spotted a large herd of deer which was a welcome sight. The walk is mainly open heathland, crossed with a little forest by the pathways, very serene and quiet and we spotted some birds of prey on route too. The nice thing about the route is there are lots of shortcuts if you wanted to do a shorter route too

After the walk you can drive a little further, a few minutes down the road and stop at a nice country pub in Woodgreen village called The Horse & Groom.

📍 Hale Purlieu, Fordingbridge SP6 2NT

Want to know more about the pub we ate at, click here…