to Forestry Commission home page
to England home page

Knightwood Oak

(Average user rating4 unrated 3.7/5)
 
A short walk from Knightwood Oak car park, a gravel track (suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs) leads to the largest and perhaps the most famous oak tree in the New Forest. The Knightwood Oak is the largest oak in the New Forest, at 7.4m girth, and surely one of the oldest. It is still going strong today and is a spectacular example of the ancient art of 'pollarding', the traditional way of harvesting wood without killing the tree. A shady spot to bring a picnic, 'get away from it all' and try to imagine what it would have been like over 400 years ago when this tree began to grow.

How to get there:

Knightwood Oak is in New Forest.
By car: From Lyndhurst take the A35 towards Christchurch. Approximately 2 miles out of Lyndhurst turn right into the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive. Knightwood Oak car park is the first car park on the left.
Lyndhurst is the nearest town or village.
OS Grid Reference: SU 265 064
For details of public transport visit http://www.transportdirect.info

Other places to go in New Forest

What's on in New Forest

May

June

July

View all events

User Comments

5 Stars 5 Stars

stunning tree kids loved it

the woods family, 22/Aug/2010
3 Stars 3 Stars

Anonymous, 31/Jul/2009
3 Stars 3 Stars

Anonymous, 28/Jun/2009

Please tell us about your visit

Please email us at enquiries.southern@forestry.gsi.gov.uk if you have an enquiry or would like a reply to your comments.

Email addresses will not be shown

Please help us reduce the amount of spam we receive by entering the following characters in upper or lower case without the quotes into the box below: "AOX"
 


Knightwood Oak

Facilities and Activities

ParkingEasy Access
WalkingCyclingForest DriveFishingCampingWildlife ActivitiesBarbecuePicnic
Walking
Stroll around the Knightwood Oak on this 1/4 mile walk. For more information please click on the link below.
Knightwood Oak Stroll
Cycling
Your could leave your car here and spend the rest of the day in the saddle. For further information on cycling in the New Forest please click on the link to the right. There is also a network map that can be downloaded and printed off showing the cycle routes throughout the New Forest
ForestDrive.gif
Travel along the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive and visit the deer viewing platform at Bolderwood to see if you can spot the Fallow deer. Or cross the A35 and travel down the Rhinefield Ornamental drive. Stop off at Blackwater car park to visit the Blackwater Arboretum or walk along the Tall Trees Trail.
Fishing
Coarse fishing in the New Forest is available at Hatchet Pond. A Forestry Commission fishing permit is required along with a rod license. For more information on Fishing in the New Forest please click on the link for Coarse Fishing under related pages.
Camping
Information on camping in the New Forest can be obtained from Forest holidays either by clicking on the Forest holidays link to the right of the page, or by calling them on 0845 130 8224. ****Please note that wild camping is not allowed in the New Forest. Only use the designated campsties. We also recommend that you book your pitch in advance as the campsites can become very busy in the holiday periods.****
Wildlife Activities
Why not continue up the Bolderwood Ornamental Drive to Bolderwood car park and see if you can spot the Fallow deer from our deer viewing platform.
Barbecue
This site is not suitable for BBQs. For more information on where BBQ safely or the sites which are available to hire, click on the BBQ and activities link to the right.
Picnic
Take a picnic and sit in the shade of the trees. There are a limited number of bench seats on site.

Contact:

General Enquiries
023 8028 3141
e-mail: enquiries.southern@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

What's of interest

This tree has been visited by royalty who have commemorated the Royal Hunting Forest of old at this site and an oak planted by Elizabeth II grows nearby.

Related pages

Useful sites