Whitwell/st Lawrence/niton/whitwell

This walk starts and finishes in the village of Whitwell. It’s almost 6 miles in length and although I wouldn’t describe it as too hilly there are certainly enough climbs. It’s suitable to have your dog off the lead for the majority of it if you wish.

Start off from Nettlecombe Lane where there is plenty of free on street parking and walk up the hill going past the old Whitwell railway station on your left. The station closed in 1952 and has now been converted to holiday accommodation with railway enthusiasts in mind.

A couple of hundred meters past the old station there is a gate on your right leading to some farm cottages. Take this (NT9) and walk across the field. There are quite often either sheep or cows in this field. Just before the cottages go left towards Nettlecombe Farm (NT5), through a gate and past three fishing lakes on your left. As you come out from the path by the lakes you’ll see another path over to your right (NT3). Follow this for approximately 100 meters and then take the path off to your left (NT119). Another 250 meters and then follow the path to the right rather than straight on over the stile. This leads you to Week Farm.

When you come to the lane that leads to Week Farm you turn right on the byway (V60) marked for St Lawrence. Be careful as you come to the end of this lane if your dog is off lead as you have to cross the Ventnor Road. After you’ve crossed this you continue to road walk for a short while (300 meters) up St Lawrence Shute until you see a stile and footpath on your right marked ‘Public Footpath V78‘. You’ll stay on this coastal path for approximately a mile and a half until you cut across a field towards the village of Niton (NT27).

Once you’ve gone across this field you’ll come to a junction of five footpaths and you need to turn right (NT20). This walk doesn’t take you all the way into the village of Niton but it’s only a short detour from this point if you want to go into it where you’ll find shops, a pub and public toilets. The footpath NT20 does, however, take you past Fields Nursery which is also a café.

At the junction for Fields Nursery and the playing fields (no dogs allowed) you follow Allotment Road back towards Whitwell. Allotment Road has a pavement and it’s only about 450 meters before it becomes a footpath again (NT18). This is Ashknowle Lane and we very often see red squirrels here. Shortly before you come to the end of this lane take a narrow footpath on your left (NT17) which leads you to the parish church and the village. From here you walk down the High Street until you get back to your starting point of Nettlecombe Lane on your right.