High Corner Inn
Directions from Arden House
[These directions are very similar to those for the nearby Red Shoot Inn]
[Cyclists: this round trip is about 45 miles and takes you through marvellous scenery. There are one or two sharp pulls in Bolderwood Forest, but mainly the road is undulating rather than testing. The route described here avoids all main roads and is perfect for a road bike except for the last half mile near High Corner Inn, which is made up of loose large gravel chewed up by cars.]
Turn right out of our front drive and follow signs to Beaulieu, about four miles away.
Go over the bridge and past the Montagu Arms Hotel. Turn left into the High Street or continue straight on past the garage. In either case turn left at the next T junction towards Lymington and Brockenhurst.
After about a mile at the road junction bear right signposted Brockenhurst, leaving Hatchet Pond to your left. The road takes you through woods mostly of beech, especially delightful in early spring and autumn. After four miles or so, opposite the entrance to Whitley Ridge Hotel, you'll see a sign suggesting a left turn to Brockenhurst. Don't take that turning, but continue straight ahead under the low railway bridge signposted to Lyndhurst.
At the T junction after another mile or so, turn left towards Brockenhurst village and keep your eyes peeled for Meerut Road on your right, opposite the first lamppost. Turn down Meerut Road and negotiate the corner by the Cloud Hotel carefully. Carry on between houses and forest grassland to the T junction. Turn right there along Rhinefield Road.
Rhinefield Road takes you through the wooded outskirts of Brockenhurst and up onto White Moor, a wide expanse of grassland of the type we call lawns in the New Forest. At the other side of the lawn you dip down to Ober Water. Have a paddle in the stream on a hot day!
Soon, through a gap in the trees on the left you'll see Rhinefield House, owned by Richard Branson: open for weddings and functions, with its curious Alhambra Room. Then after a sharp right turn comes the beginning of the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive. Here the forest cover gets dense with tall confiers and other plantings of this arboretum and you may see an American Redwood on the left. After a couple of cattle grids and some more delicate trees you suddenly come across the main Lyndhurst Bournemouth Road. This is a very dangerous crossroads: don't hurry here!
Once safely over, you are in the companion to Rhinefield: Knightwood Inclosure and Bolderwoood Ornamental Drive. About 400 metres from the main road, set back a bit on the right is the Knightwood Oak - reputedly the oldest oak in the Forest.
The road rises through pine plantations, beech and oak woods to Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary and car park where you can usually buy ice creams. You may want to take a break here: there's another four miles to go.
Then set off again, join a road coming from the right (you'll return to Arden House down that road) and carry on past the Canadian Memorial Cross on you right, with splendid views across wide swathes of forest. The road then dips underneath the busy A31 trunk Road; be grateful you won't have to negotiate that, as we used to have to do years ago!
Past the A31 you climb again through Slufters Inclosure of pines onto heath land. Pass a turning to the right (a return route from the Royal Oak at Fritham) and carry on, bending round to the left on the tarmac past a gravel track that leads off ahead towards Broomy Lodge.
Watch out after one more mile for signs to High Corner Inn up a gravel track to your right. You're almost there!
The Return Journey
After lunch I suggest you return a slightly different way. Get back under the A31 to the Canadian Memorial Cross, but at Bolderwood car park bear left towards Lyndhurst. You'll be coasting downhill most of the way till you reach the Portuguese Fireplace, a rather disappointing landmark, and then the road rises and falls to the New Forest Inn (another suggested venue) at Emery Down.
Bear right past the Inn, crest the hill and coast down to the main road past one of the most photographed thatched cottages in England. At the junction join the traffic into Lyndhurst, past the Queen's House where the Verderers' Court sits, the Church and the Crown Hotel. Straight on at the traffic lights down the High Street, and straight on towards Southampton till you see the Lyndhurst Park Hotel on your right.
Just past the hotel turn right across open forest towards Beaulieu. Pass Matley Passage on your left and at the corner, Denny Wood on your right. Soon you'll be over the hump-backed bridge at Beaulieu Road Station. The Beaulieu Road Pub (yet another venue!) is there for a drink if you're parched.
In 500 metres take the left turn signposted Hythe. Watch out at Ipley crossroads for traffic on the other road, which has right of way; carry straight on to the roundabout on the A326 where, if in a car, you turn right along the straight stretch to the large roundabout for the left turn back past Dibden Purlieu to Arden House. But not cyclists!
Cyclists should follow the cycle track signs towards Applemore Sports Centre, then ride between the centre and Tesco to a small roundabout: straight on along a residential road that becomes Cumberland Way. At the T junction turn right into the serpentine Challenger Way and up the short sharp hill to the back of Orchard School (from where you may be able to see cruise ships in Southampton Water away to your left) and on to the mini-roundabout on Beaulieu Road. Turn left and you're almost home.
We hope you enjoyed your journey through the New Forest.
Map reference: SU 192 107
Postcode: BH24 3QY
Telephone: 01425 473973
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