West Walk Forest of Bere
Wickham
Children will enjoy the wooden huts, woodland play area and sandpit on this walk.
Hot chocolates from Mimi Makes and one of the wooden play huts
The Basics
Time: 50 minutes
Distance: 2.5 km /1.6 miles
Terrain: Well maintained woodland paths, some steady hills.
Pushchair: Pushchairs should be able to make it around this walk with one uphill push!
Dogs: Dogs are welcome on this walk, but not in the sandy play area on the left hand side.
Refreshments: Mimi Makes food truck in the car park with cakes, bakes, hot drinks and hot dogs, Thursday - Sunday.
Toilets: There are toilets in the car park
Public Transport: There is no public transport to this location.
Parking: Large pay and display car park off Hundred Acres Road (Postcode: PO17 6JB - W3W: ///signs.shorted.gosh)
This part of the forest is also home to a small woodland play area
Known to some as Hundred Acre Wood, West Walk is actually part of The Forest of Bere, an ancient landscape that once stretched uninterrupted across much of Southern Hampshire. Today, you will find miles of easy, marked woodland trails as well as an excellent children’s playground and picnic area.
The Route
There are many routes you can explore, including a few waymarked ones. We like this short and easy pushchair friendly one for our children.
Walk down the main path from the car park with the sand pit play area to your left and the woodland play area to your right. Continue ahead and then go left at the first fork.
Continue to a meeting of five paths and take the first to the right. Keep going to the next fork, where you should bear right again.
You will cross over the river, which was not much more than a muddy stream when we were last there. After the river, take the first signposted track on your right. This will take you away from the main path.
When you reach a junction with a grassy triangle, take the path on the left going up hill.
Continue along this path until you reach the play area again. There is also a picnic area and toilets alongside.
Did you know?
At 350 hectares, West Walk is the largest remaining fragment of the ancient Forest of Bere.
We are passionate about keeping The Ambling Path as a free resource available to everyone, forever. If you have enjoyed using our walking guides, then please consider leaving us a donation. This will help to cover our costs as well as rewarding the considerable time and effort needed to maintain the site. Thank you.
Follow us on social media to see our new walks and get regular updates on our old ones:
