Knightwood Oak Stroll

Knightwood Oak Stroll

Starting from Knightwood Oak car park, this walk visits the most iconic oak in the Forest.

The trail has now been made more accessible by Forestry England thanks to the NPA helping to fund upgrades through Defra’s Access for All scheme. Read more in the news release here: Upgraded and accessible trail opens in the New Forest – New Forest National Park Authority The Knightwood Oak is the most famous oak tree in the New Forest, and one of the largest. It’s thought to be more than 500 years old, has a girth of 7.38 metres – and is still growing! It was pollarded when it was about 200 years old and is thought to have been last pollarded about 150 years ago. It is also protected by a traditional cleft oak fence – once all New Forest fences would have been made this way. During this walk you can see an example of ‘inosculation’ which is when the branches of two adjacent trees unite. Forestry England have pollarded some of the young oaks around the Knightwood Oak, and planted out a number of saplings from the Knightwood Oak itself.