Parking
No formal car park. Parking is very limited on nearby public streets at Walker’s Lane South, Fawley or Chapel Lane.
Overview
About Tom’s Down
Why go
- Millpond and WWII remains sit along public rights of way
- Mostly level gravel tracks through woods and open commons
Heads up
- No formal car park and very limited on-street parking
- Muddy patches are likely
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the New Forest map
Full mapElevation11–33 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 Tom’s Down, 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 area
The Garage That Pumped Fuel0:00 / 0:31
“Near Mopley Pond, an overgrown concrete base is all that's left of a wartime fuel pump house. During the Second World War, tanks on Badminston Common fed a pipeline to this spot.”
Plays on the road 0.8 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf New Forest Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- The Island That Stopped Floating
- The Hatch at Stone Point
- The Mill That Used the Tide
- The Fish Trap Beneath the Marsh
- 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 Tom’s Down
What this walk isTom’s Down is a roughly 6-mile linked loop from Walker’s Lane South through estate land,…
Tom’s Down is a roughly 6-mile linked loop from Walker’s Lane South through estate land, woodland and open commons. Allow about 3 hours. Mostly level gravel tracks and rights of way make it an easy outing, though muddy patches are likely. The mapped circuit connects a central loop with short branches and returns to the same access. The 3-mile figure describes the central circular section; the wider rights-of-way network extends to 8 miles.
What you’ll passThe route crosses Sprat’s Down and Badminston Common, passes Stanswood Mill and skirts Mopley…
The route crosses Sprat’s Down and Badminston Common, passes Stanswood Mill and skirts Mopley Pond. At Floating Island, an earthwork dam marks a millpond drained in 1866; its bay and sluice are still visible. By Mopley Pond, look for the overgrown concrete base of a Second World War PLUTO pump house, part of the fuel network built to supply Allied forces. The interest is in these scattered traces and the changing mix of tracks, woods and heath, rather than one big viewpoint.
Starting outThere’s no formal car park or single trailhead.
There’s no formal car park or single trailhead. This mapped circuit starts on Walker’s Lane South; Fawley or Langley also work as starting places. On-street parking is very limited. Stay on public rights of way across the estates. Dogs are allowed, but keep them on a lead or under very close control, particularly from 1 March through 31 July for ground-nesting birds.
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.
