A Walk to the Huff Duff, SW Hants

Starting and finishing in the small village of Ibsley on the western edge of the New Forest, this circular route heads out across open heath and gentle wooded ground towards the site of the old Ibsley HF-DF Station, known locally as the Huff Duff. The path passes Mockbeggar before climbing gently over Three Tree Hill, with wide views opening out across the Avon valley.

From there the route drops into Rodens Bottom and skirts Whitefield Plantation, a quiet stretch of mixed woodland typical of this corner of Hampshire. The Huff Duff itself, a relic of the wartime airfield that once operated here, sits in open ground and makes a natural turning point before the loop back to Ibsley.

Nearby you can also seek out the surviving control tower of R.A.F. Ibsley, the crossing of Dockens Water, and the heathy hollows of Little Whitemoor Bottom and The Ring. At 7 km with only modest ascent, it is a comfortable half-morning walk that rewards a slower pace and an eye for the landscape's layered past.