Bolderwood

Bolderwood – New Forest Walks and Picnic Areas

Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary and Bolderwood Ornamental Drive are definitely one of the unmissable places to visit in the forest.

Bolderwood must rate as an all time family favourite for regular visitors the New Forest. A pleasant drive to Bolderwood either through the picturesque Bolderwood ornamental drive or from across the forest is a joy in itself.

Once you arrive however there are a host of other diversions to keep you and the kids if you have any, nice and busy.

The green here is ideal for a family picnic or to play in the open air but it is advisable to get here early to ensure a parking spot.

There are toilet facilities on site and portable BBq's are also allowed as they are in Anderwood, Blackwater, Burley, Hatchet Pond, Linford Bottom, Whitefield Moor and Wilverley Plain. There are also now a number of picnic tables where you can sit in the woods and enjoy your lunch or a nice snack.

The car park is also home to the resident Ice cream van where you can also buy specialist locally produced ice cream.

To keep the inquisitive minds busy there is a manned information centre here most weekends and school holidays in the summer periods where your children (or your) can have a friendly chat to one of the duty Forest rangers, who can help you with most questions about the Forest's flora and fauna.

Once out of the car park area there are a number of well marked walks you can try including the short (roughly half a mile) Bolderwood Deer Watch Trail, that takes you to a nearby Bolderwood deer sanctuary and deer viewing platform where you can get some great photo's of the herd of fallow deer who have become more accustomed to a human presence.

The Jubilee Walk is also a very pleasant and interesting short walk that take you through the Bolderwood Arboretum which was first started in the mid 1800's.

The arboretum was (and still is) a magnificent display of many varieties of trees, and if you were fortunate enough to visit it prior to the great storms of 1987 (when sadly many of the trees were blown down) it was very different to what you see today. The area was subsequently ravaged by more storms in 1991 but further trees have now been planted with on ongoing planting program to bring this area of the forest back to its former glory.

The Radnor Trail (where you can also find the Radnor stone) is also a favourite short stroll that exposes you to many of the varieties of trees in this ancient woodland including chestnut, beech ,Norway spruce and oak. You can stop along the rout e for a picnic if the need takes you, and the trail culminates at the deer viewing platform to round of this short but extremely pleasant walk.

Bolderwood also forms part of the 100 mile New Forest Cycling network that takes you through some of the finest parts of the forests. The trail links all the major villages in the forest including Brockenhurst ,Minstead and Burley.

The Bolderwood part of the cycling trail is about seven or so miles in length and normally takes around 3-31/2 hours to complete.

If you didn't arrive by way of Bolderwood Ornamental drive then try and go back by that route, The drive seemingly meanders through the magnificent trees and is an absolute delight during the summer season.

The road does get quite busy so you will need to drive carefully and be careful of the many people that enjoy cycling in this area as well as the local wildlife that can suddenly spring into the road from nowhere.

If you found this page useful please bookmark it for others to share - Thank you