This is a great walk for kids with loads of interest along the way – from the majestic Knightwood Oak to sensory woodland installations and the amphibian residents of the New Forest Reptile Centre.

Route

From the Knightwood Oak car park, cross the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive and look out for a small track leading into the woods a few metres along the road, to the left of Monarchs Grove.

Follow the forest track through beech and oak woodland for 350m as it gradually descends towards an open area at the valley bottom.

The path crosses a small stream – look out for dragonflies and butterflies in spring and summer.

Continue on the path as it heads uphill, back into the woods for another 300m until you reach the gate into Holidays Hill Inclosure.

Look out for some sensory installations – after you reach the top of the hill. You’ll see a sensory ‘bed’ on the left of the path where you can literally lie back for a wonderfully relaxing all-round view of the tree tops. A short distance on, have a break at an installation of polished tree stumps arranged alongside a path off the main track.

Continue straight on and the path eventually reaches a junction at a pond – look out for the giant wooden frog sculpture peering out from the reeds.

Turn right and follow the path for 600m towards the New Forest Reptile Centre.

On the right side of the path, pause at another wooden ‘bed’ marked ‘look up’ giving you a restful view of the treetops. Shortly before you come to the centre you’ll see another sculpture on the left of the path – have a look through the wooden telescope to spot a deer in the woods.

At the New Forest Reptile Centre you can have a peer into the enclosures which provide habitats for native lizards, snakes, frogs and toads. You may also see an adder – the only venomous species of snake living in Britain.

While the open-air pits can be viewed anytime, opening times for the small information and learning centre itself are limited – check the latest times on the Forestry England website.

There is a picnic site and toilet facilities (open seasonally) at the site.

Retrace your steps back along the path and when you reach the telescope, take the path opposite.

At regular intervals along the 500m path you’ll see posts with panels featuring birds, animal and insects – great for teaching little ones about forest wildlife. Take crayons and paper and you can have a great kids’ activity of taking rubbings of the forest creatures.

The soft woodland path winds through a tunnel of pine trees towards a footbridge and then heads uphill to join with the main gravel path.

Turn left and follow the path downhill towards the inclosure gate. Continue downhill back towards the valley bottom before climbing again towards Bolderwood Ornamental Drive.

Turn left when you reach the road and enter Monarchs Grove. A short 600m trail through the grove takes you to the so-called Queen of the Forest – the Knightwood Oak. It first became popular as a visitor attraction in Victorian times.

The Knightwood Oak, surrounding by a cleft oak fence, is thought to be about 600 years old and, as such, is one of the oldest trees in the New Forest. Over the centuries it has been pollarded – the upper branches cut off for purposes such as firewood – without harming the tree. The trunk has a circumference of more than 7m.

The area around the tree has been cleared and the trail has now been made more accessible by Forestry England.

After walking round the Knightwood Oak, follow the path back to the road and the car park.

In Pictures