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Start of the forest track at Bolderwood car park
Pony
grazing alone by the track
"This",
I thought, "is going to be good", but we did
not get off to a good start. It was a grey day with dark
low cloud and persistent drizzle. We decided to drive
around the area, which neither my wife nor I know at all,
and explore the villages and towns before getting on with
some good walks when the weather picks up.
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This was the first morning of our week in the New Forest. I was awake early and watched a group of five fallow deer grazing in the field next to our holiday cottage as I sat on the settee drinking my cup of tea.
Dead birch tree covered in bracket fungus
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Woodland path heading for Bolderwood Cottage
At
the road we turned left to walk along the road for about
100m to a gate on the right. We went through the gate
and followed a path through the woods for about 500m to
the road near Bolderwood Cottage. This is the road that
forms the Bolderwood Arboretum Ornamental Drive and there
were frequent cars passing along it. We followed this
road for about 400m back to the car park and had a look
at the deer viewing platform on the left, near the car
park entrance, but in mid afternoon there were no deer
to be seen.
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It was a dreary business trudging round in the rain, but
in the afternoon the weather improved and we decided to
have a little stroll as a taster for the rest of the week.
We drove to the Bolderwood car park at map ref. SU243086.
We crossed the road at the eastern end of the car park
and set off down a forest track for about 100m to map
ref SU244087. Here we turned right to follow a path down
a firebreak to rejoin the forest track at map ref. SU246087.
We turned right onto the track and followed it for about
500m to map ref. SU249085. At this point we turned right
onto a track climbing up the wooded hill side back to
the road at map ref. SU248082.
Pigs feeding on acorns and chestnuts in the forest
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