Hampshire

40 Coast & Country Walks

Includes the New Forest and South Downs National Park

Paul Boobyer

With a network of more than 4800km of rights of way and two national parks which cover almost half of the county, Hampshire offers endless adventures for walkers. The South Downs, England’s newest national park, stretches through East and West Sussex as well as Hampshire, but the jewel in the county’s crown is the idyllic New Forest, established as a protected hunting ground by William the Conqueror around 1079 for his ‘beasts of the chase’.

Most of these walks are found within the parks, but beyond their boundaries there are less-visited gems to be explored too. All the walks have been chosen to showcase Hampshire’s scenic diversity, which includes forests, downlands, farmland, heaths, lakes and coast, and all are on public rights of way or land with permitted access.