New Forest walk: Fritham and surrounding countryside

Peacefully tucked away in the northern half of the New Forest, but just a few miles from the main road (the M27/A31 Cadnam roundabout), the village of Fritham is a popular spot thanks not only to its attractive location, but even more to its pub, the 17th century Royal Oak, a charming, thatched hostelry. Recommended by the Good Pub Guide, the award-winning pub, which has been run by the same family for over two decades, serves real ales straight from the cask and locally sourced Ploughman’s lunches. A pop-up farm shop selling New Forest farm produce is located in the pub garden and the meat comes from the family’s own farm adjoining the pub. Accommodation is available in hand-built shepherd’s huts next door with New Forest ponies and donkeys a common sight on the green outside.

The Royal Oak is the perfect place for a pitstop (Image: Fiona Barltrop) Although quiet today, albeit well frequented by visitors, Fritham has not always been so. From the 1860s to the 1920s it was home to the Schultze Gunpowder Factory, which manufactured smokeless gunpowder, used for sporting guns. At the entrance to the car park there is a black post box, which was erected to make the postman’s life easier before motor vehicles, saving him the journey down to the factory and back up again. Man-made Eyeworth Pond, one of the New Forest’s beauty spots, provided water for the manufacturing process. The pond is just a 10-minute walk down the quiet no-through road from the car park – there is also a car park there, too.

Golden bracken can be seen in autumn (Image: Fiona Barltrop) During the Second World War the establishment of the nearby Ashley Walk Bombing Range shattered the peace of the area even more. A vast area of heathland – over 5000 acres (equivalent to 2,833 football pitches) - was used as a bombing range to test a huge variety of explosives. By the end of the war the land was pockmarked with craters and defaced with rubble and targets, most removed thereafter. The small brick observation shelter (a short detour from waypoint 3) is the only remaining building left.

Interesting oyster fungus (Image: Fiona Barltrop) On this walk you will pass numbered posts, which are used along the cycle network of tracks established by Foresty England across the New Forest. These gravel tracks provide a good all-weather surface for walkers, too. You can download a cycle map from the National Park or Forestry England website or buy maps locally that show the numbers of the wooden waymarker posts, so you can locate where you are when you come across one. Much of this route goes through what are known as Inclosures, timber plantations managed by Forestry England. It is mostly fast-growing conifers, such as Douglas fir, that are grown for timber.

As well as the colourful foliage to be enjoyed in the autumn, a variety of fungi may be spotted in the woodland – with about 2,700 species, the New Forest is one of the most important areas for fungi in Britain. Enjoy looking for them, but do not pick them.

Enjoy a stroll across Fritham Plain (Image: Fiona Barltrop) THE WALK

1. (SU231141) From the entrance to the car park, with your back to the road, take the right-hand fork past the barrier, signed ‘cycle route to Frogham only’, post 14 next to it. Continue along the gravel track passing posts 13 and 12.

2. (SU216141) Cross a footbridge and fork left at post 11 just after it. Keep straight on at post 10 past a gated track which forks left (a shortcut to waypoint 3 along a gravel track), heading uphill.

3. (SU208141) The track levels out at post 9, where the walk turns left through a gate. But first detour right along another track, soon forking left across the grass to the Ashley Walk Bombing Range observation shelter (information panel). Retrace steps and go through the gate and down a grassy path through trees to another gravel track.

4. (SU208139) Turn right and keep ahead where another track joins from the right and likewise a bit further on continuing along a straight stretch. The track curves left down to a footbridge – before it look out for a carved bench on the right, a memorial to Eric Ashby, a naturalist and wildlife film maker.

5. (SU201131) Cross the footbridge and go through two gates one after another. Keep straight ahead past a left turning and ahead again at a right turn, the track heading steadily uphill to a gate where you leave the woodland.

6. (SU217131) Go through the gate and soon after bear left where another track joins from the right. Follow the level track across Fritham Plain back to the car park. To visit Eyeworth Pond, turn left out of the car park and walk down the lane for 10 minutes, returning the same way.

Eyeworth Pond (Image: Fiona Barltrop) COMPASS POINTS