A beautiful day out and unmissable for adults and kids alike if you are visiting the Forest is a trip to Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary and the Ornamental Drive. A day can easily slip by in this beautiful woodland area with plenty to do for any member of the family.

In case you didn’t know the New Forest National park was once the hunting grounds of the former kings of England, and some of the ancient traditions are still practiced today by the commoners.

On arrival at Bolderwood, just as you have parked your car there is an open air green at the side of the woody area which is ideal for a picnic lunch or just to let off some steam with a game of ball. Soaking up the sun before you set off in to the woodlands or having a locally produced ice cream from the resident ice cream van in the car park.

In the woody area at the entrance to Bolderwood you will find picnic tables, portable barbeque facilities and toilets. Here you will also find an information centre, often manned by a friendly forest ranger who can help with questions about the forest. Children and adults can have some fun seeing how many questions they can answer from the quiz!

Once you have entered into the Woodland area at Bolderwood there is a choice of variable well marked walks you can choose from. The shortest is about half a mile long and this walk will take you past the Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary. There is a viewing platform here where you can look out across the forest to see how many deer you can spot. The forest feed some deer from here, so if you get the time just right, you can often see a many a deer feeding and grazing.

If you decide to take the Jubilee Walk, this is a about half a mile and will take you through the Bolderwood Arboretum. This is a fabulous display of a range of trees which began as far back as the 1800’s. Unfortunately, because of the high winds we had here in 1987 and further more in 1991, many of the great trees were destroyed. A project of ongoing planting has since been put in place to return this area to its original beauty.

An alternative stroll through this beautiful ancient woodland area will show you many more varieties of trees such as Chestnut, Beech, Oak and Norway Spruce. This walk is called the Radnor Trail and will also bring you about to the marvellous Deer Sanctuary and the viewing platform, if you haven’t spotted any Deer already during your walk.

The New Forest Cycling network which takes you through the many finest parts of the forest and links many of the major villages includes Bolderwood. Cycling through Bolderwood which includes the Ornamental drive is beautiful and can take about 3 and one half hours.

Bolderwood Ornamental drive must be visited either on the way in to Bolderwood or on the way out. The ornamental drive takes you though this marvellous picturesque route around Bolderwood and during the summer it is at its most beautiful. This is a busy fairly narrow windy road however and many hikers and cyclists as well as the wildlife use it too, so take care !

If you are looking for friendly local accommodation visit New Forest cottages for local self catering holiday cottages or New Forest hotels for luxury and hotel accommodation.