Route: Emery Down Circular
Area: New Forest, Hampshire
Date of walk: 24th September 2014
Walkers: Andrew
Distance: 11.6 miles
Weather: Mainly sunny with some cloud cover
We were staying on the south coast, where it rained for most of the morning, but by lunchtime the weather improved and so without ado I set off and parked in the attractive village of Emery Down in the New Forest National Park
I was soon in the forest walking through ancient woodland and it wasn’t long before a couple of fallow deer ran across the path. I then joined the quiet lane known as the Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Drive and this took me to the Bolderwood Visitor Site. The site is well known for the herd of fallow deer which live nearby and can often be seen from a viewing platform. My luck was in and straightaway I spotted a couple of young bucks and then several does, a thrilling moment
I completed this great circuit by walking across heathland and through more woodland back into Emery Down
Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
Christ Church Emery Down at the start of the walk
Walking past the church into the forest
Signs of autumn……
Cut Walk
One of the many New Forest ponies I met along the way
Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Drive
Fallow deer stags at Bolderwood
…and a doe
Bolderwood marked the half way point of the walk - the second half took me through some of the heathland which is an iconic feature of the park
The Canadian Memorial
Approaching Emery Down
Back to the start
On the way back I drove through Bolderwood and stopped to look for more deer - I saw these instead……
… domestic pigs, which are let out into the forest for 3 months in autumn in the ancient practice known as Pannage. What a great end to the day
