Parking
Knightwood Oak car park is on Bolderwood Ornamental Drive (SO43 7QB), across the road from the signed trail entrance. The lot is small, with room for about 15 cars.
Overview
About Knightwood Oak Trail
Why go
- Flat, smooth gravel with frequent benches.
- A remarkable old oak and nearby joined-branch saplings.
Heads up
- The short route is built around one landmark and is over quickly.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the New Forest map
Full mapElevation40–49 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active New Forest alert
- CautionNew Forest outdoor-fire restrictionDo not use BBQs, campfires, stoves, outdoor camping equipment or other naked flames on the open Forest.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
New Forest Tour Guide
Your drive to Knightwood Oak Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for New Forest National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Knightwood Oak0:00 / 0:27
“You're coming up on the Knightwood Oak, the New Forest's largest oak and a short walk from its small car park.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf New Forest Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Hawk That Came Back
- Anderwood Picnic Area
- Blackwater Arboretum and Tall Trees
- The Mouse in the Fir Cone
- 283 audio storiesacross New Forest’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Red Deer, White-tailed Eagle, Harbor Seal, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 70 trails, 48 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Knightwood Oak Trail
A short walk to a famous oakThis 0.
This 0.35-mile loop starts at Knightwood Oak car park, crosses Bolderwood Ornamental Drive and follows flat gravel to the fenced tree before returning to the same car park. Allow around 15 minutes of walking. It is a deliberately brief visit built around one landmark, not a longer woodland circuit.
Give the tree a closer lookThe Knightwood Oak is a huge pollarded tree, believed to have been planted around 1600, with a…
The Knightwood Oak is a huge pollarded tree, believed to have been planted around 1600, with a trunk about 7.38 metres around. A traditional cleft-oak fence protects its base. Look for a younger oak whose branches have joined together, a natural process called inosculation, and saplings grown from the old tree. The path is smooth gravel, level and ungated, with frequent benches; it is suitable for wheelchairs, pushchairs and mobility scooters. From the path, step back to fit the heavy trunk and spreading crown into one frame.
Parking and crossingStart at Knightwood Oak car park on Bolderwood Ornamental Drive (SO43 7QB), cross the road and…
Start at Knightwood Oak car park on Bolderwood Ornamental Drive (SO43 7QB), cross the road and follow the waymarkers to the oak. The small car park holds about 15 cars. Stay on the signed gravel path as it loops around the oak and returns to the same access.
Wildlife
Wildlife in New Forest
28 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
10 sightingsWhite-tailed EagleMost seen around 10 AMSighting map
14 sightingsHarbor SealMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
176 sightingsEuropean Fallow DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
93 sightingsWestern Roe DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
54 sightingsMute SwanMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across New Forest. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
