Keyhaven's Solent Shore

A walk on the Solent Way and the wildlife-rich salt marsh west of Lymington.

Distance 5 miles (8km)

Minimum time 2hrs

Ascent/gradient Negligible

Level of difficulty Easy

Paths Sea wall path, tracks and short stretch of road, 1 stile

Landscape Salt and freshwater marshland

Suggested map aqua3 OS Outdoor Leisure 22 New Forest

Start/finish SZ 306914

Dog friendliness Off lead along sea wall path

Parking Free parking by harbour wall or pay-and-display car park

Public toilets Keyhaven

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Directions
Background
Information

1 Leave the car park and follow the Solent Way along the harbour wall heading east. Turn right through a kissing gate beyond the parking area. Remain on the good shingle path close to the foreshore, then along the sea wall, with fine views across the Solent to Tennyson Down and Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. Inland views take in the wildlife rich Keyhaven Marshes.

2 Ignore all paths inland, your sea wall path skirting Oxey Marsh, with distant views of Lymington Marina, before heading west beside a channel to an old sluice gate. Shortly, cross the stile on your right and head towards a house on a narrow path beside the creek. The two brick buildings you can see across the creek are old salt boiling houses. Shallow-draught lighters brought coal up the creek, known as Moses Dock, for the furnaces and returned loaded with salt.

3 Just before a stile, bear left and continue to a lane. Turn right here to visit the Chequers Inn. The Chequers' existence is closely linked with the salt industry. As well as being well-placed to serve the thirsty salt workers on their way home, it was where the outgoing salt was checked for tax purposes, hence its name.

4 Retrace your steps and keep to the lane to its end by some cottages. Continue to another lane and turn left. Follow it round a sharp right bend and walk beside Pennington Marshes. Where the lane ends, go straight ahead by a gate and follow the track through the old saltings and beside Keyhaven Marshes to the harbour wall in Keyhaven.

Between Hurst Spit at the western end of the Solent and the ancient town of Lymington lies a huge expanse of salt and freshwater marshes and mudflats, a breezy, watery landscape that's more reminiscent perhaps of East Anglia than Hampshire. The area is a birdwatcher's paradise, the marshes, lagoons and ponds attracting rare and interesting species, especially in the winter. So take your binoculars with you on this walk. From your vantage point on the sea wall you can scan the saltings and pools and see a wide range of waders and wildfowl. Guaranteed sightings will include a heron loping lazily across a lagoon, the curlew probing the mud with its long, down-curved bill, shelduck dabbling in the shallows, and soaring skylarks singing high above the reedbeds. Walk this way in winter and you should see huge flocks of black-necked Brent geese feeding on the eel-grass, long-tailed ducks, greenshanks and, out on the Solent, goldeneye and common scoter. The elegant common and sandwich terns, which breed on Hurst Spit, can be seen overhead during the summer months and, if you're lucky, you may spot one of the rarer passage migrants, perhaps ruff, curlew sandpiper or little stint.

The area has not always been a refuge for wildlife. Between the 12th and 19th centuries salt extraction was a flourishing industry along this stretch of coastline. At one time there were 13 saltworks on Keyhaven and Pennington marshes. Sea water was impounded in shallow tidal ponds, or 'salterns', each about 20ft (6m) square, and left to evaporate. Once it had formed a strong brine, it was pumped by wind pump into boiling houses with coal-fired furnaces, where the water was boiled until salt crystals were left. Lymington salt was highly regarded and by the 18th century supplied much of southern England and was even exported to America. In 1800 4,000 tons were produced but when new railways brought in cheaper rock salt from Cheshire the industry declined. You can still see the remains of the old salt pans, square enclosures with low mud walls, from the sea wall.

What to look for

Next door to the Gun in Keyhaven stands Hawker's Cottage, built by the famous wildfowler Peter Hawker in the early 19th century. For 50 years he kept a diary of his wildfowling activities on the marshes and it makes shocking reading today. He killed 574 wildfowl, including geese, swans and 29 waders during eight weeks in the winter of 1829. The pub sign of the Gun is a reminder of Hawker's shooting exploits.

While you're there

Visit Hurst Castle. Between April and October, take the ferry or walk along the pebble beach to Henry VIII's fortress. Completed in 1544 to defend the Solent's western entrance, it was used to imprison Charles I in 1648 and housed coastal gun batteries and searchlights during the Second World War.

Where to eat and drink

The 16th-century Chequers Inn, formerly the local salt exchange, in Pennington has a pleasant, sheltered terrace and garden, and offers a good snack menu and more imaginative dishes. The Gun Inn at Keyhaven is ideally placed for post-walk refreshment.