National park
Dog walks in the New Forest, and lead rules
Trekosa finds dog walks in the New Forest to suit your dog and you. Tell us once what your dog finds hard, and we show you walks with the roads, stiles, livestock and council dog rules already marked.
Do dogs have to be on a lead in the New Forest?
On open access land, by law from 1 March to 31 July and near farm animals at any time. Across the forest, the New Forest Dog Walking Code asks for a lead if your dog does not reliably come back, in car parks and beside roads, and where orange signs mark nesting birds from late February to the end of August.
- The New Forest Dog Walking Code asks you to keep your dog under effective control, and on a lead if you cannot reliably call it back.Asked of visitors. New Forest National Park Authority.
- It asks for a lead in car parks and beside roads, and for dogs to be kept away from birds on the coast.Asked of visitors. New Forest National Park Authority.
- Do not let your dog go near or chase the ponies, cattle, donkeys, pigs or deer, keep well away from mothers with young, and let go of the lead if cattle or ponies come at you.Asked of visitors. New Forest National Park Authority.
- From late February to the end of August, while birds nest on the heath, keep your dog with you on the main gravel tracks, use a lead where orange signs are up, and keep out of areas with red signs.Asked of visitors. Forestry England.
- On Forestry England's Crown land you must not let your dog disturb, worry or chase any bird or animal, and must put it on a lead if a Forestry England officer asks.A byelaw. Forestry England.
- On open access land, your dog must be on a lead no longer than 2 metres from 1 March to 31 July, and at any time of year near farm animals.The law. Natural England, on GOV.UK.
- Since 18 March 2026, a dog that attacks or chases farm animals can bring its owner an unlimited fine, on roads and paths as well as in fields.The law. GOV.UK.
Each read on the page named beside it on 29 September 2026. Rules change, so check the page before you go.
Before you go, check:
What the walks in the New Forest are like
We have measured 22,300 walks in the New Forest so far, each against the same public map data as everywhere else: where the path runs, what is beside it, the roads it meets and what is on the way. Each bar is the share of those walks the sentence is true of, and the mark beside it is Hampshire as a whole.
What shape they are
A loop: 30% of the walks in the New Forest, against 25% across Hampshire.
A loop brings you back without repeating a step. There and back retraces the way out.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| A loop | 30% |
| There and back the same way | 42% |
| One way, ending somewhere else | 27% |
What is beside the path
On open access land for a third or more: 66% of the walks in the New Forest, against 22% across Hampshire.
Shares of walks where the ground beside the path is a given kind for the stated part of the way.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Under trees for a third or more of the way | 79% |
| Beside water for a tenth or more | 77% |
| On open access land for a third or more | 66% |
| Through a park or green space for a third or more | 2% |
| Beside crop fields for a third or more | 88% |
| Beside farm grassland for half or more | 74% |
| No farm grassland at all | 4% |
| Off road for four fifths or more | 47% |
| On roads or lanes for half or more | 26% |
| Through built-up streets for half or more | <1% |
What might stop you
No stile, gate or cattle grid: 72% of the walks in the New Forest, against 64% across Hampshire.
Shares of walks with none of each thing on the way. A road counts when it runs within about fifteen metres of the path.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Never beside a fast road | 93% |
| Never beside a busy road | 71% |
| No busy road to cross | 71% |
| No stile, gate or cattle grid | 72% |
| No steps | 97% |
What is on the way
Pass a pub: 17% of the walks in the New Forest, against 30% across Hampshire.
Shares of walks that start by, or pass, each of these.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Start where you can park, at a car park or on a minor road | 67% |
| Pass a pub | 17% |
| Pass a dog-waste bin | 12% |
| Pass a public toilet | 10% |
| Pass a drinking-water tap | 4% |
| Pass a busy beauty spot | 48% |
The walks in the New Forest are much like Hampshire's in how far they go: no row differs by 5 points or more.
Measured on 29 September 2026 from the map. A walk counts as in the New Forest when its middle lies inside the boundary. How these figures are made
Walks in the New Forest, for your dog
If you live in Hampshire, it is your home county, and every walk in it is free, for good. Tell the app what your dog finds hard and it shows you walks that suit, with anything that might stop you shown first.
Anywhere in Great Britain, even with no signal.
Further is the Trekosa subscription: walks beyond your home county, and help on the walk itself. The OS Explorer map, 1:25,000, on any walk while you have signal. Press Offline on a walk and its map stays on your phone until you remove it, for when the signal goes. Drift off the path and you get a quiet buzz.
The first 250 households have it for good. After that, £4.99 a month or £34.99 a year.
Towns and villages
In the New Forest: Marchwood, Brockenhurst, Sway, Lyndhurst, Copythorne, Netley Marsh, Ashurst, Boldre, Landford, Whiteparish, Burley, Hyde, East Boldre, Beaulieu, Bashley and Minstead.
On its edge: Southampton, New Milton, Hythe, Lymington, Ringwood, Fawley, Warsash, Fordingbridge, Holbury and Hordle.
Where you may walk in the New Forest
Every walk we show in the New Forest keeps to public rights of way, open access land or woodland open to the public, and one that leaves them is refused before you see it.
We checked the New Forest for military live-firing ground and found none.
Councils can also make orders about dogs, and each council's are on its county's page: Hampshire and Wiltshire.
Other parks nearby
Every walk in the New Forest is checked against the same data as everywhere else we cover. See what we check and where it comes from.
© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right.