Not far away from Waitrose in Weeke, or even closer from Andover Road, Barton Meadows Nature Reserve is a fairly recent addition to the walkable greenspaces within Winchester. This is a fairly easy 7 kilometres with 100 m of ascent as the Nature reserve itself is a little hilly. After the walk, reward yourself with a drink or meal at one of the cafes restaurants or shops in Stoney Lane.
full screen mode
zoom in
zoom out
compass to orient the map – north at the top
locate your current position on the map (browser will ask for permission, works best on phones due to use of GPS). We don’t track your location.Start and end point: Waitrose/Aldi on Stockbridge Road, alternative starting point on Andover Road (shorter walk).
Length: 7.1 km / 4.4 miles
Time: 1 hour 35 minutes at a swift pace + breaks
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate – 100m total ascent, no cycles on pathway around Nature Reserve
Parking: behind Waitrose, off Fromond Road
Public transport: buses to Fromond Road (bus #3) from Winchester City Centre
Variation: Shorter walk from Andover Road (indicated on map above)
walk#10 also goes across Barton Meadows.
Highlights of walk#3
Wildflowers are in bloom in in spring and summer whilst in autumn sheep can be seen grazing. Deer can also be seen on and off. Barton Meadows Nature Reserve is Winchester’s newest addition to its list of greenspaces within the city. It is on the other side of the railway line from the large Kings Barton housing development with a circular footpath going around it.
Wildlife on the meadows
This walk is part of the 12 walks challenge. Walk#10 also goes across Barton Meadows.
Loved it! Thank you. Should have taken a map as got a bit lost at one point and had to do a return loop but that gives us the chance to try it again and get it right! Took us longer to walk 7km than you suggest….not sure if we are slow or you are super fast!
Hi Rachel, Sorry to hear you got lost a bit. I just added a locate button to the map for each walk-it appears in the lower righthand corner. If you take your mobile phone on the walk, it should display your position with a blue dot wherever you are. Alternatively, use the OS maps app link above. You will have the option to install the OS app on the phone which might be useful if you want to do more exploring.
The duration is based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naismith%27s_rule and assumes you are fairly fast (5km per hour on a flat walk + an allowance for climbs). I have done walk#3 in about an hour and a half many times, but that doesn’t really allow for orientation or any other stops. Thanks for your feedback – I’ll clarify this on the website and suggest that extra time should be allowed for breaks, if you are not familiar with the location.
Thanks so much for taking the time to put these walks together. We had a lovely stroll with our dog around Barton Meadows this morning, an area of town we did not know at all. Directions and maps all spot on and integrated smoothly with my OS maps app.
Thank you, Simon. Appreciate the feedback. Good to know you are using the OS maps app and the integration worked. OS maps is my favourite outdoor app and all walks on WalkWinchester are available on the app.