This summer I plan on taking small groups of people interested in learning the history of the airfield on walks of the various sites. Each walk will show you what remains, stories of the people who served at Beaulieu, and a talk as we walk on the history. If you are interested in being notified when these will happen, please contact me.
Walks on video
The site of the WW2 airfield and surrounding Beaulieu Heath areas are ideal for walks of all different distances. There’s an abundance of history and wildlife to see by following the Beaulieu walks shown below.
You can select a Beaulieu airfield walk from myself or some other walkers who do their own variations of the different routes.
1. Beaulieu airfield walk of the perimeter with historical detours
This RAF Beaulieu walk is around 10km if you take all the shown detours off from the perimeter track. Depending on your speed and whether you take in all detours, it could take you between 1.5 and 2 hours to complete.
The areas that you will see in this RAF Beaulieu walk video (view on YouTube
) you can do yourself include:
- The perimeter of the RAF Beaulieu airfield.
- The bomb store remains found at Hawkhill Inclosure.
- The pundit code, signals mortar site, and remains of the airfield control tower.
- The site of the hangar to the north of the airfield.
- Roundhill Campsite and the water tower.
- 2 air raid shelters on the WAAF section of the airfield.
- Plus an optional visit to the churchyard where the pilots are buried.
Please take your time on this historical New Forest walk as there is so much to see… I spotted a grass snake myself!
2. RAF Beaulieu Walk #2 on the communal areas and Roundhill Campsite area
In my second RAF Beaulieu walk I take a different route to the one most people are familiar with (watch on YouTube). This time I decided it would be interesting to show people lesser known sites away from the airfield runways and perimeter.
This walk is about 5.8 km (3.6 miles). You will need wellies or wet weather footwear if taking this route during wet or winter months.
The aspects of the airfield and dispersal areas you will see on this walk include:
- The defence site ruins in Stockley Inclosure.
- Roundhill Campsite perimeter paths.
- The water tower and related communal area history.
- The handcraft huts at site number 5.
- Evidence of structures in Perrywood Inclosure.
- Round Pond at the entrance to Roundhill Campsite and some history there too.
- Bronze Age barrows and how they were flattened when the airfield was built.
- Colt (or Cold) Pixies Cave.
3. RAF Beaulieu virtual tour to help you plan a walk
Since publishing my first two RAF Beaulieu walks shown above, I’ve learned a lot more about the airfield, little secret places, and also the history. Because of that, I decided to combine all of my knowledge to date in a virtual tour of this WW2 airfield which you can watch below – this should help you plan your own walk around the Beaulieu Aerodrome site.
The aspects I cover in this video include:
- Showing the different parking options and then which routes to walk around Beaulieu Airfield.
- Explaining a little about the history of the airfield both during and post-war eras.
- Showing you on a Google Earth app where you can find all the places of interest that I have listed on my map.
4. Beaulieu airfield walk by Dave Ford & Logan
Dave Ford was one of the New Forest walkers who inspired me to make my own videos and get out more. He has a range of airfield walks on his YouTube channel, including this RAF Beaulieu walk below with Logan the dog.
Dave’s walk is just over 8km and also includes a pitstop at the model airplane flying club, who are based on the remains of the runway.
Please visit back, as new videos will be added in the coming weeks.
Where to park & walking preparation
There are 3 different car parking options for RAF Beaulieu. You can see them on my Beaulieu airfield parking page.
I also recommend that you wear wellies if it’s been raining or during the winter months. Some of the heathland areas and paths can get very boggy with large puddles developing, plus occasional flooding on the perimeter tarmac and gravel tracks.
Please also be responsible.
Whilst RAF Beaulieu is an amazing place to walk for wartime history, it’s also home to a wide range of wildlife. At certain points during the year, there are rare ground nesting birds. The New Forest National Park will put signs up around the heathland where you or your dog should not walk, so please do respect that.
In addition, it’s also against various laws to dig or disturb the earth, as is metal detecting so please don’t do either activity or encourage others to do so.
If you do find something on your walk you believe to be of historical importance that might not have been documented by the official authorities before, I can give you the correct contact details to report it. Please get in touch with me for more details.