Rach's Rambles - Bucklers Hard to Beaulieu and back!

Ok so this is the first post for me blogging some of my dog walks! They will include information like parking, suitable paths, if dogs are allowed off lead, and much more!

The first one had to be at one of our most visited places in the UK, the New Forest.

I am super lucky enough to have a family static caravan close by so we often come down to the New Forest for some long weekends away.

The New Forest is one of the largest UK's National park and covers areas of Forest, heathland and pasture land. But this walk took us alongside one of the few privately owned rivers in the world, the Beaulieu River.

This wasn't the first time we had visited the Beaulieu River, we had previously came here and Canoed along the river with New Forest Activities, which we took the dogs along with us too and highly recommend to anyone who wants to explore this beautiful par of the country from water!

BUCKLERS HARD

This was the starting point for our walk, it has a large car park available and we took to park all day for about £5-£7 it closes at 5pm. There are toilets available here, along with a little museum (not dog friendly) and café with lots of seating inside and outside.

The thing we loves most about this walk was you cant go too wrong! The paths are very clear and we didn't really have to look at a map.

If you do want to check out a map and route check out this link. Just do the route in reverse! Beaulieu to Bucklers Hard - New Forest Walks - with map

As you walk past the museum and round the corner into the hallway of houses which was formally a ship builders yard you get a great view of the river. The pub on the left is also dog friendly and if the weather is nice like when we went, grab a drink and sit on the hill outside and enjoy the view at the end of the walk.

Heading towards the river you pick u the gravel path, and this will take you all the way to Beaulieu. First section is a small path running alongside the boat yards and river, most dogs were on the lead here.

Next you head to the main big path that is used by both cyclists and people. If you walk straight ahead it takes you on the big shared path, or there is a smaller path to the right just past the hideout, which takes you a little further along the river. This is only for walking so is a nice little spot which eventually joins onto the bigger path. Dog's were allowed off lead here, and there were a few but all well behaved.

Was a mixture of off lead and on lead dogs when we joined onto the big main path. Dogs that wee off lead were well behaved and no one ran up to us. I think as it's a shared path of bikes and walkers, people tend to kept their dogs under close control. Path is nice to walk on with no major hills, all tough there is minimal shade so in the height of summer it may get a little warm.

The lovely route takes you through some fields, little woodland area, and eventually towards Beaulieu. Overall it took us about an hour to hour and a half to walk from one to the other. Just before you reach Beaulieu, you pass some horses in fields, and all dogs have to be on lead at this point when you go through the kissing gate.

It then takes you around the back of the local school field and through a very narrow path into the centre of Beaulieu.

BEAULIEU

There is a fair amount to offer here like toilets, cafes, pubs, hotels and ice cream shops.

We arrived around lunchtime and was busy with lots of people and dogs, but all where on lead. Stopped by the river opposite the impressive Palace House, and had a picnic. Although you have been warned our stop was cut short due to some Donkeys rambling over seeing if we had anything to eat, so made for a speedy exit to the ice cream shop.

I swear I am interesting and not as boring as this picture suggests, Haha! Our Picnic spot by the river.

Safe to say, nice warm day in a beautiful place, it was busy! They sold doggy ice cream and we sat down and ate it away from the crowds as there was the odd person blissfully unaware of their dog approaching ours while eating their ice cream.

Then our journey headed us back to Bucklers Hard, slightly busier on the way back, paths being used by families, bikes and dog walkers but no major incidents and overall a pleasant walk!

Followed by a couple of drinks at the pub at the end and then off we headed back to the caravan. So to summon it up here are the major points from the walk:

• Nice simple route to follow, and path is easy to walk on and fairly flat.

• Sunny walk and not loads of shade so can get hot in summer.

• No major off lead dog issues, all well behaved and has some areas were dogs are to remain on lead.

• Town of Beaulieu can be busy so not suited to dogs who like their space if wanting to eat somewhere instead of a picnic by the river like we did.

Hope you have enjoyed reading! And see you on the next Rach's Rambles walking blog!