Walks you can reach from Rowlands Castle by train

Mixed oak, beech and chestnut woods, bridleways, streams, open countryside, horse paddocks and a final climb into a market town.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

Time: 4h–8h30

2 lunch spots: Fernhurst (2h30–5h in) — the Red Lion Pub, or the Fern Café

1 end-of-walk reward: the Harper's Steakhouse

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walks: the Saturday Walkers Club and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Rolling Hampshire countryside, wooded hangers, steep hillside ascent, unspoilt farmland and quiet villages.

Time: 5h

Warnings: Steep ascent, slippery winter.

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

Flat coastal walk, seafront promenade, sandy beaches, short ferry crossing, disused railway path and harbourside shore path.

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

Pleasant walk mostly on safe footpaths with nice views; particularly beautiful with lovely views and tranquil woods; very enjoyable. A beautiful but strenuous walk on countryside footpaths, bridleways and byways through woods and across arable fields, within the South Downs National Park. Soft and muddy after rain and with some stiles and the very steep Shoulder of Mutton hill. Within the South Downs National Park, mostly following the Hangers Way (which can be followed all the way between the two towns). Passes Chawton (Jane Austen's house). A water shrew was spotted on one walk.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Time: 6h–12h

Lunch: A tea room at Chawton, roughly midway. Pubs at Upper Farringdon and Hawkley may not always be open, so don't rely on facilities other than at Alton and Petersfield.

Warnings: Shoulder of Mutton Hill is very steep on both sides (zig-zag options exist via the Hangers Way); Selborne Common is notoriously muddy; some stiles, steps and ploughed-field paths. A short A32 section can be avoided via the Chawton House estate footpath.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Woodland paths.

Woodland: three fifths under tree cover.

Time: 6h–11h30

Walk details: Railwalks.

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

A short, easy urban route from the seafront into the city centre and passing a wide range of architecture and Southsea Common with a view over the Solent. Mostly flat and on pavements. The route includes a hovercraft crossing between Portsmouth and Ryde. Public toilets at the Southsea Hovercraft Terminal.

Time: 2h30–5h

Warnings: The mapped crossing at the Winston Churchill Avenue roundabout is wrong; the road has railings between carriageways, so continue past the roundabout to the pelican crossing.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Steep hillside ascent of Shoulder of Mutton Hill, gentle gradients, one short steep downhill section and wooded hangers.

Time: 3h

Warnings: Steep descent, slippery winter.

Source: A shorter variant of Petersfield to Liss – the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).