Minstead Circular

02 October 2008

Distance: 51/2 miles
Parking: In front of Village Shop by the Village Green
Map: Explorer OL22 New Forest
Map ref for car park: SU283110

Minstead is another pretty village nestled in the New Forest just north of Lyndhurst and easy to get to from the A337 south from the M27 westbound from Southampton.

The day was pleasant although occasionally cold when the sun was obscured and on the exposed ridge overlooking Withybed Bottom and Murrays Passage.

If there are no parking spaces by the village green, there is a New Forest Car Park by the cricket ground about 1/2 mile east.

From the village shop head towards the village green where there is a stocks and a memorial to villagers who fought in WWI. Pass the memorial up Church Lane with the pub on your right and pass in front of the church to a gate in the right hand corner. The footpath runs down between a hedge and trees on the right and paddocks on the left, to another gate at the bottom. Turn right to the road and left over the stream to go uphill.

Where the road forks, take the right hand lane, and at the next fork by the phone box bear left to the crossroads. Go straight over past Piglets Corner, stables and other cottages heading for Acres Down Farm. At the Farm there is a Tea Rooms open from April to September, and camping to be had from £10 per night for a small (1-3 person) tent. Continue around the corner past a sign in green pointing the way to Acres Down Car Park. Walk past the car park (or divert here to go up on to Acres Down) and around a barrier on to a cycle track signposted to Bolderwood (2.3 miles).

The track winds through the Forest passing between old gate posts and the remains of a wooden fence where a gate used to be. Further along the track goes over Bagshott Gutter. Where another track comes down from the left some way past the stream, turn right up a grass track through conifers. Go over the track at the top and follow the grass track ahead which bears slightly right. This track can be rather churned and muddy but, except where it is very wet, the mud tends to be firm underfoot. Apart from the mud this is a lovely walk with the trees closing in on both sides.

At the top of a short rise follow the track round to the left and keep along the clearer path. As the bracken begins to increase and the trees to recede slightly on the approach to a gravel track, there is a possibility of spotting deer.

At the gravel track cross over and bear slightly right to find a grass path running almost parallel to the gravel track, which soon runs lower than this grassed way. Keep along this path through the trees to a gate bearing a permissive footpath sign on the other side. Through the gate, turn immediately right and where a track joins from the left keep left. Follow this track along the ridge beside trees on the right and gorse intermittently on the left.

Here are lovely views across a shallow valley, Withybed Bottom. Looking left from the track it is possible to spot a green fingerpost, which points the way to Murrays Passage. This is a nice spot to stop for Jaffa Cakes and water and to enjoy the view. Return to the track up by the trees and continue along through the gorse ahead.

There are three main tracks through the gorse. Keep ahead on the middle way. A track will come down from the right to join this; continue a little further and at the next major fork, go right and continue to follow this path round to the road opposite the gates to Grovewood House, ignoring a path which goes left to the road before this. Along this path, look south and on clear days spectacular views can be had over miles of Forest to the rising heights of the Isle of Wight.

Cross the road towards the gates of Grovewood House and turn right along the verge to the bridleway signposted to King's Garn, which is a private residence. Follow the bridleway all the way down until a road is reached. On the left before the road is a stile. Go over the stile and up the footpath between hedge and fenced pasture to another stile. Turn immediately right down to a footbridge and then up some wooden steps and, forking right, go through a staggered gate. Cross a plank bridge, through another staggered gate and up a slope with greenhouses on the right to a car park.

Keep right and ahead is Furzey Gardens, through a wooden gate flanked by a wooden board giving details of the Gardens, to a charming cottage tucked down behind trees.

Continue along the path to the road and turn right. From here is a choice of two ways back into Minstead. The simplest is to pass a Y-junction and keep along the road, passing cottages and fields and finer houses and coming down eventually past white-walled and oak beamed cottages and the pub to the village green.

The alternative route is to go right at the Y-junction and head down this lane until a stile left into a field. The path goes up the left side of this field, which may be used for grazing horses or cattle - today it was empty except for two deer which bounded away across the field ahead of me.

Follow the path up through this field to a footbridge and stile into the next field and continue up to still another stile and the road beyond. Turn right and come down into Minstead, again past the white-walled cottages and the pub to the village green.