SU301998 A337 Brockenhurst road, turn off for Burley just before Lymington This is easy to reach and explore if you are not very mobile and also a great starting place for walkers – you can
SU301998 A337 Brockenhurst road, turn off for Burley just before Lymington
This is easy to reach and explore if you are not very mobile and also a great starting place for walkers – you can do a circular route of up to 5.8 miles or just meander across the tracks on the same side as the pond or cross over onto the heath.
For Cwtch Collie this is our nearest quick place for a run, especially after work on summer evenings! There are some fascinatingly named places to admire from the higher viewpoints: Three Beech Bottom, Milking Pound Bottom and Widden Bottom!
Setley Pond itself is the remains of a Victorian gravel pit’s southernmost reaches – it once covered all the car parking areas and was still used to some extent during World War two. It is about 1-2 metres deep at most and has about 30cm of oozy mud at the base. No streams feed this pond so it floods in winter and then dries up to varying extents in summer.
As a result of this it is not of vital value to wildlife, other than herons and some cormorants and other birds. Fish are only for the birds to catch. Most frequent visitors are the New Forest ponies and cattle pausing for water.
The pond is used for sailing model boats – not a frivolous hobby here, as all boats must be made from scratch – no kits allowed ! The annual members highlight is the Boxing Day sailing competition.
Away from the pond, some tracks lead down to one of the railway bridges – lines to Lymington and to Christchurch cross Setley Heath. The heath itself is undulating and has far-reaching views to the UK’s tallest folly, Sway Tower – built by Peterson.
The heathland across the road is fascinating – the heather and gorse grows in patches delineated by the paths and roads of the second world war prisoner-of-war camp, which housed first Italian and then German POWs. Where the heather grows so well marks the site of many buildings.
The heath is stunning and varied all year round and a good place for blackberrying and spotting fungi in autumn. As for Cwtch Collie, she considers this a fabulous place for exercise on and off the lead, with some delectable black bogs hidden away too!
