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Bramshott, Grayshott and Ludshott

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Our view

"Wild heathland contrasts with a wooded beauty spot in an area loved by Tennyson and the writer Flora Thompson."

Walk directions

From the car park, take the defined path beyond the low barrier and then gradually descend. At the bottom, take the main bridleway that directs you left along a sunken track. (Ignore this if it’s wet and muddy and instead climb the drier path ahead beneath the beech trees.) Follow this track as it bends to the right then, where the tracks cross, turn left and head down to reach the stream and a footbridge.

Cross the bridge and turn right along the footpath parallel with the stream. Pass the wishing well and a house and keep to the path, bearing right just beyond the house, through the valley bottom to the left of three large ponds, eventually reaching a lane by a ford.

A few steps before the lane, take a sharp left on a bridleway marked ‘Horses’, to pass the Hunter memorial stone and then steeply ascend through mixed woodland. As it levels out, cross a path, then a track and soon merge with a wider track. Continue ahead until reaching a gravel cross tracks, and ahead again across a similar track.

On meeting the next track, at a T-junction, turn right, emerging from the trees and onto the common at a five-way junction of tracks. Take the secondleft track skirting around a clump of gorse and birch trees.

Turn left and follow this open heathland trail, edged by bracken and gorse, and eventually merge with a wider sandy trail. Keep left and then, on reaching a bench and junction of ways on the fringe of the common, proceed straight on through the conifer plantation.

At a crossing of paths by a line of electricity poles, turn left following the line of the wires. The path bears left and downhill to a cross tracks. Continue ahead on a narrower track through the wood, to emerge beneath the power lines again. Turn left beside some electricity poles and keep ahead for a quarter of a mile (400m), ignoring a bridleway going right, towards North Lodge. Keep ahead with the electricity poles then, after 100yds (91m), turn right at a crossways and fingerpost.

Turn right and keep straight on at the next crossing of routes, following the footpath alongside a garden to a stile on the woodland edge. Keep ahead between wire fences to a stile on the edge of the wood.

Steeply descend into woodland to reach a stile. At the track beyond, turn right downhill to the river and footbridge encountered on the outward route. Retrace your steps back to the car park.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Woodland paths and heathland tracks, 3 stiles

Landscape - Wooded valley with lakes, lofty, heather-covered common with far-reaching view

Dog friendliness - Vast expanse of heathland where dogs can run free

Parking - Unsurfaced car park on edge of Bramshott Common

Toilets en route - None on route

About the walk

Much of the landscape on either side of the busy A3 is a mini wilderness of bracken and heather-covered commons and deep wooded valleys etched by tiny streams. Surprisingly, this unspoilt area was once the heart of a thriving iron industry, with streams like the Wey and Downwater being dammed to... provide power for the great hammers in the 17th-century ironworks. Timber for the furnaces and iron ore were locally plentiful. The chain of dams and the wooded ponds at Waggoner’s Wells were created in 1615 by Henry Hooke, lord of the manor of Bramshott, to supply his iron foundry. Now a beauty spot owned by the National Trust, the three beautiful lakes, surrounded by beech woods and home to a wealth of wildlife, are a delight, especially in the autumn when the colours are magnificent. Writers and poets Like the poet Tennyson and the writer Flora Thompson, who loved to stroll beside the pools, you will be immediately charmed by this secluded haven. Tennyson, who rented Grayshott Farm (now Grayshott Hall) in 1867, wrote his famous short ode ‘Flower in the Crannied Wall’ after pulling a flower from one of the crevices at the wishing well you will pass in the valley bottom. Flora Thompson lived in both Liphook and Grayshott during her 30 years in Hampshire between 1897 and 1927. She often walked to Waggoner’s Wells and Bramshott, returning to Grayshott via Ludshott Common. On these long, inspirational country rambles she would observe and assiduously make notes on the wildlife she encountered. Her detailed nature notes reflecting the changing year appeared in her book The Peverel Papers. She also describes her life in the area and many of its inhabitants with great affection in the collection of essays called Heatherley. Thompson ‘did not often linger by the lakes’ on her Sunday walks, but ‘climbed at once by a little sandy track to the heath beyond’. Today, on a summer Sunday, the wooded vale attracts the crowds so, if you are seeking relative solitude, stride up to the open heath and the deciduous woodland of Ludshott Common. Here, the sandy paths criss-cross purple heather and yellow gorse, and the far-reaching wooded views make the strenuous climb worth the effort. Thompson would certainly have seen stonechats, linnets, redpolls and nightingales while walking here, and they still nest on the margins of the heath.

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About the area

Hampshire’s varied landscape of hills and heaths, downlands and forests, valleys and coast are without rival in southern England. Hike across the chalk downland of the north Hampshire ‘highlands’, meander along peaceful paths through unspoilt river valleys of the Test, Itchen, Avon and Meon, or explore the lonely salt marshes and the beautiful medieval forest and heathland of the New Forest.

Nearby places to stay

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Route details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Gentle

Distance:

3.9 miles (6.3kms)

Ascent:

502ft (153m)

If you like this walk, you can try more routes in the area.

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Bramshott, Grayshott and Ludshott

Recommended by

Our view

"Wild heathland contrasts with a wooded beauty spot in an area loved by Tennyson and the writer Flora Thompson."

Walk details

Difficulty:

Medium

Gradient:

Gentle

Distance:

3.9 miles (6.3kms)

Ascent:

502ft (153m)

Walk directions

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Steeply descend into woodland to reach a stile. At the track beyond, turn right downhill to the river and footbridge encountered on the outward route. Retrace your steps back to the car park.

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Location

Starting point

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Woodland paths and heathland tracks, 3 stiles

Landscape - Wooded valley with lakes, lofty, heather-covered common with far-reaching view

Dog friendliness - Vast expanse of heathland where dogs can run free

Parking - Unsurfaced car park on edge of Bramshott Common

Toilets en route - None on route

Walks in Hampshire Dog-friendly walks in Hampshire Family friendly walks in Hampshire

About the walk

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

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Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

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Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

Hampshire

Nearby places to stay

View all (8)

Bramshott, Grayshott and Ludshott

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Bramshott, Grayshott and Ludshott

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