Beaulieu and Bucklers Hard

The walk begins and ends in the old village of Beaulieu. Skirting the village, the route leads through arable fields and meadows rich in wildflowers and butterflies, passing Bailey's Hard (once a thriving 18th-century brickworks and the site where the warship The Salisbury was built in 1698).

The path winds through woodland alongside the Beaulieu River estuary, past salt marshes with duckboards and salt-tolerant plants like sea lavender and cordgrass. You will also pass a modern glazed home designed by renowned architect Sir Basil Spence.

Arriving at Bucklers Hard, you find an 18th-century shipbuilding village that once formed part of the uncompleted 'Montagu Town'. It was the home port for Sir Francis Chichester's Gipsy Moth IV. The return leg leads back through Keeping Copse and Beaulieu village, with its 17th-century brick cottages, Palace House, and Beaulieu Abbey.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.