Dogmersfield & The Basingstoke Canal

August 09, 2026

by avatar @robertclarke64@wanderer.robertclarke.co.uk

Hart, England, United Kingdom

Easy

Not completed

Distance 5.14 km
Est. duration 01h 00m
Elevation Gain 32 m
Elevation Loss 30 m
Category Hiking

Description

Step back in time to the 18th-century as you follow this peaceful canal-side walk through a quiet corner of north-east Hampshire. Little has changed since horses first hauled barges along this waterway. The only inland waterway in Hampshire which is navigable today is the Basingstoke Canal, opene

Route

Start

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Head to the back of the Barley Mow Slipway Car Park to join the Basingstoke Canal Towpath. With Barley Mow Bridge behind you and the canal on your right, follow the hard-surfaced towpath for around 1 mile as it curves right with the canal. Houses in Dogmersfield village can just be glimpsed on your left, the road that serves them at first running closely parallel with the canal and then diverging from it, with fields and woodlands intervening. At one stage the canal cleaves through a cutting, followed by an embankment with the water at a higher level than the bordering land. Pines and rhododendrons on the canal's far side precede a gap through which a wider expanse of water reveals itself - this is 20-acre Tundry Pond, a prime feature of Dogmersfield Park, which you will enter after leaving the towpath at Blacksmith's Bridge, just around the corner from where you now stand.

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Cross the bridge and then pass through a gate to join a fenced track which goes right and then left around open fields to skirt the south side of Tundry Pond, a haven for Canada geese and wild ducks. Coming soon into view on higher ground, and overlooking the park from your left, is Dogmersfield House, now a luxury hotel. Built in 1728 on the site of a one-time bishop's palace, it became the seat of the Mildmay family. At the turn of the 18th century, the family had Dogmersfield village moved, lock, stock and barrel, to where it is now, behind the house, so as not to impinge upon their view. A few years earlier, Sir Henry Mildmay had compelled the canal company to divert their intended waterway in a wide loop around Dogmersfield Park as another move to protect his privacy. Centuries earlier, Henry VI often stayed at Dogmersfield, and it was here that plans were made for the short-lived marriage of Henry VII's son and heir, Arthur, to Catherine of Aragon who, when widowed, became the first wife of Arthur's brother, Henry VIII. Continuing our route, where Tundry Pond narrows and is spanned by a bridge, turn left through a gate towards Dogmersfield House along a fenced estate road, then after a very short distance you turn sharp right and along a road. The pond remains on your right. You now make your way across open ground towards Sprat's Hatch Farm and its outbuildings - skirting to the right of some ornate gates.

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When you reach the farm precincts, cross through a kissing gate and then follow a bridleway to the left, heading by way of a green lane to Sprat's Hatch Bridge across the canal. From the far side of this you descend to the right to join the towpath once more. Heading north-east now, with the canal on your right, walk into a scene little altered since the early days of the canal. Occasional isolated houses only serve to emphasise the peace of their immediate surroundings. Keep ahead for 1¼ miles passing two further brick bridges spanning the canal before a third one, Barley Mow Bridge, signals the end of your walk through this lovely, unspoilt area.

5.14 km

Finish