High Corner, Dockens Water, Splash Bridge and Hasley Hill

Here, where there are fewer people and no roads, there is a rich variety of heathland birds and plants. The white-washed High Corner Inn dates from the 1700's and was originally a farmhouse. During coaching days, it thrived as an inn. Now this once busy area of the forest is the most quiet and remote and the Inn is well known for its excellent food. It also has delightful woodland garden overlooking the valley.

After a short walk through woodlands, you reached the stream known as Dockhams Water. This stretch of water is associated with a New Forest heroine, Alice Lisle. She lived at Moyles Court, which is not far away, where the stream flows across the New Forest boundary. Although she was a staunch royalist - her husband was fighting for King James II - she sheltered two wounded fugitives, supporters of the Duke of Monmouth, who sought refuge in the forest after his defeat as Sedgemoor. For this, the gallant old lady was beheaded by order of the notorious Judge Jeffries.

Alice Lisle died standing, refusing to kneel and protesting she was no traitor. There is a memorial to her in the House of Commons.

You follow the walk alongside Dockens Water to Splash Bridge, which in the driest spells of the year spans not water but a dry river bed.

From Splash Bridge the walk leaves the waterside and heads north, on a slight gradient, up to Hasley Hill Inclosure. In late spring this part of the walk is set amongst a blaze of fresh green heath but as summer ends and tirns to autumn the heathland colours make a dazzling transformation to rich browns with tinges of gold as the heather and bracken wilt in various stages of dying off. On this open stretch of the walk it is also likely for you to spot the wild ponies of the New Forest grazing on the open moor.

Ogdens Purlieu, near the end of the walk, is a long, low building built around three sides of a square. The name 'purlieu' takes us back to the days of William the Conqueror. It is derived from the French pour aller, to walk round an area, and is the name given to land once subject to Forest laws but allowed to be enclosed and cultivated by special dispensation of the Crown. The banks of the enclosure made soft by the roots of trees are dotted with badger sets and their tracks can be seen leaving the trees and leading to the stream.