Walks you can reach from Pokesdown by train

Recommended

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

1 lunch spot: the Fleur de Lys (45m in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Snakecatcher Pub, or the Huntsman

Warnings: Can be EXTREME mud in Lymington Reeds Beds Nature Reserve.

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Similar walk: Railwalks (inc. GPX).

Reverse direction: the Saturday Walkers Club and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Rolling Thomas Hardy Country pastures, large woods, dairy farms, remote scenic coombes, steep chalk clifftops, rock stacks, limestone arches, caves, beautiful coves, parkland, heath and bluebell woods.

Time: 9h (7h walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Forest inclosures and heath between the villages of Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst, with Lymington River bathing spots and spring bluebells. Strenuous.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: New Forest Walks (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Historic cathedral city streets, watermeadows, iron age hillfort, downland ridges, river valley and ancient meadows.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: M3 motorway noise.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Open heath and forest inclosures, a caravan park and a dead-straight stretch of the disused Castleman Corkscrew railway, now a cycle route. Strenuous.

Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Some short road sections have no footpath; watch for traffic.

Walk details: New Forest Walks (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Ancient woodland, open heath and inclosures, crossing the Beaulieu River past Matley and Denny Woods. Strenuous.

Matley Wood: A small but beautiful tract of ancient and ornamental New Forest woodland reached across open heath.

Denny Wood: An ancient and ornamental woodland of beech and oak flanked by ferns and surrounded by heath and wetland habitats.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Some roadside walking with limited footpath; take care.

Walk details: New Forest Walks (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Coastal path, with a long section from the station to reach the coast.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Railwalks.

Coastal path.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Railwalks.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a fifth of the walk.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Uses Forestry England approved routes.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Solent Way with an inland section and a ferry crossing to Hythe.

Time: 9h (7h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Railwalks.

A long walk leaving Winchester via Riverside Park along the River Itchen, then following the Watercress Way and the route of former railways across rolling Hampshire farmland to Micheldever Station. Mostly farm tracks, quiet lanes and good-quality paths, with a short wooded stretch by the railway; some sections muddy or overgrown and plus a few stiles. Shares the route of the St Swithun's Way and Camino Inglés (St James Way) leaving Winchester, then follows the former Didcot, Newbury and Southampton railway. Passes Winnall Moors Nature Reserve on the western edge of the South Downs National Park, with many helpful information boards. Direct hourly train links Micheldever and Winchester (about 9 minutes); the station is 0.2 miles beyond the village sign.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Winchester City Mill (National Trust)

Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: A farm shop (Cobbs/Cobbs farm shop) early on for coffee and snacks; otherwise few facilities — Kings Worthy is the last main settlement, with plenty of spots for a picnic en route.

Warnings: Walkers only. A few road sections (notably Old Stoke Road) are straight with good visibility but lack pavement, so you may need to press into the hedge. One narrow path runs parallel to the railway with a steep drop-off; watch for easily-missed steps. Cattle in some fields. Easy to miss turns off the disused railway lines.

Walk details: Slow Ways.