Lymington Town Tours
  Description
Lymington Town Tours have 7 different walks around Lymington, and one around Milford-on-Sea too. Each walk lasts about 90 minutes, and is conducted at a leisurely pace over relatively short distances - like the Story of Lymington Walk, which starts at the Church of St. Thomas and finishes on the Quay - but there are a few longer walks, like the one which takes you to Buckland Rings to find out about the Iron Age fort (very pleasant on a fine evening with a drink at the pub to finish!).

There is no need to book.
 
  Tours for 2011
May (Sundays and Wednesdays)
15     11am, St Thomas's Church - Courts & Alleyways
18     7pm, St Thomas's Church - Wavy Walls
22     11am, Quay Slipway - Sea, Salt & Smuggling
25     7pm, Milford Village Green - The Story of Milford
29     11am, St Thomas's Church - The Story of Lymington

June (Sundays and Wednesdays)
01     7pm, St Thomas's Church - Courts & Alleyways
05     11am, St Thomas's Church - The Story of Lymington
08     7pm, Borough Arms, Avenue Rd - Buckland
12     11am, Milford Village Green - The Story of Milford
15     7pm, Quay Slipway - Sea, Salt & Smuggling
19     11am, St Thomas's Church - The Story of Lymington
22     7pm, Quay Slipway - Trains, Tolls & Tributes
26     11am, St Thomas's Church - Pens & Personalities
29     7pm, St Thomas's Church - Courts & Alleyways

July (Sundays and Wednesdays)
03     11am, Quay Slipway - Sea, Salt & Smuggling
06      7pm, St Thomas's Church - Wavy Walls
10     11am, St Thomas's Church - The Story of Lymington
13      7pm, Milford Village Green - The Story of Milford
17     11am, Quay Slipway - Trains, Tolls & Tribute
20      7pm, St Thomas's Church - Courts & Alleyways
24     11am, Quay Slipway - Sea, Salt & Smuggling
27     7pm, St Thomas's Church - The Story of Lymington
31     11am, Borough Arms, Avenue Rd - Buckland

August (Sundays and Wednesdays)
03     7pm, St Thomas's Church - Pens & Personalities
07     11am, St Thomas's Church - Courts & Alleyways
10     7pm, St Thomas's Church - Wavy Walls
14     11am, Quay Slipway - Trains, Tolls & Tribute
21     11am, Quay Slipway - Sea, Salt & Smuggling
28     11am, St Thomas's Church - The Story of Lymington

September (Sundays)
04     11am, St Thomas's Church - Courts & Alleyways
11     11am, St Thomas's Church - Wavy Walls
18     11am, Milford Village Green - The Story of Milford
25     11am, Quay Slipway - Sea, Salt & Smuggling

 
  Prices
There is no formal charge for the walks, but the Guides do make a collection at the end of the walk to cover running costs. Private walks are offered to groups and organisations for a small charge.
 
  Contact
Email Website
 
  Parking
Click here for a Lymington car park map
 
  Accessibility
Accessibility for Wheelchair users - advice kindly contributed by Lymington Town Tours.

I think that all of the walks would be fine that are based around the Town itself.

The ones that wouldn’t be suitable would be the Milford on Sea walk, Buckland and the Monument walk. Each of these three walks involves crossing rough paths, which would not be suitable.

There are places on the Town walks where the footpaths are either rather narrow and it might be necessary for a wheelchair user to possibly use the roadside, also the cobbles are a little bumpy on Quay Hill, but this is just short stretches and unfortunately the Georgians etc were quite so aware of disability issues. I am sure that people in wheelchairs are used to these things in towns but I cannot think of anything on the majority of the walks, which would preclude them.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 
Lymington walks
 
Lymington walks
 
Lymington walks
 
 
  The Walks
The Story of Lymington
This walk takes you through the heart of the town and follows Lymington’s journey from Norman times when it was a planned new town, with a thriving port, through to the present day centre for tourism, sailing and retirement. Much of the original Norman layout survives but with the prosperity of Georgian times the timber-framed houses were replaced in the fashionable style of the day using brick. Much of the wealth in the town at that period came from the salt industry and as you walk down the present High Street you will see some of the elegant Georgian buildings which survive today.
This walk begins at St Thomas’s Church and ends at the Town Quay

Sea, Salt and Smuggling
Take this walk along the waterfront and find out how important the river has always been to the town of Lymington. From a time when the Quay was a very rough working area with sailing ships bringing coal in to fuel the salt making industry and then shipping the salt all over the world. Another source of wealth in the town up until the Victorian era was smuggling and Daniel Defoe found the town ‘teeming with smugglers and all sorts of desperados’. In Victorian times Lymington was also a fashionable spa for sea water bathing and its renaissance as a place of leisure and enjoyment began.
This walk begins at the Town Quay and ends at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, Bath Road

Courts and Alleyways
This walk gives you the opportunity to explore some of the interesting nooks and crannies of the High Street and find out what domestic life was like in Lymington in days past. Until 1745 the butchers still killed their animals in the street Shambles and living at the bottom of Quay Hill after a heavy downpour was probably not a pleasant experience !
This walk begins at St Thomas’s Church and ends in the High Street

Pens and Personalities
From Dennis Wheatley’s satanic novels to Captain Marryat’s ‘Children of the New Forest’ Lymington has more links with books and their writers than you might think. Come and hear about some of the literati of Lymington and discover where they gained the inspiration to put pen to paper.
This walk begins at St Thomas’s Church and ends in the High Street

Wavy Walls
Your guide will take you on a walk in the leafy south side of Lymington and point out some interesting architectural features including the famous Crinkle Crankle Walls, also known as Serpentine or Wavy Walls. You will also hear tales of murder and mayhem at a time when the inhabitants of Lymington were outnumbered by foreign soldiers.
This walk begins at St Thomas’s Church and ends on the Town Quay

Buckland Rings
Take a stroll out of the ‘Manor of Lymington’ along the old highway where the stage coaches would have travelled to the Iron Age fort, there you can scramble up the ramparts of the ancient earthworks hidden in the woods. Finish at the Tollhouse Inn where you will hear how road tax isn’t such a recent thing after all. A lovely walk on a summer day or evening.
This walk begins at The Borough Arms, Avenue Road and ends at the Tollhouse Inn, Buckland

Trains, Tolls and Tributes
This walk follows the river inland from the Quay. Visit the pretty little Victorian railway station before you cross to Walhampton via the old Toll Bridge. In the 1700’s the construction of the causeway threatened to destroy the livelihood of the people of Lymington. When they failed to prevent it being built it changed life on the river forever. On the far side of the river stroll up through woodland to the memorial to a perfect man.
This walk begins on the Town Quay and ends at The Wagon & Horses, Walhampton

The Story of Milford
Meet on the village green and take a stroll through the village of Milford on Sea and its lovely wooded Pleasure Grounds while your guide relates how the sleepy hamlet of Milford changed its name and tried to rival genteel Eastbourne. Hear the story of the string of Pearls seven yards long before you end up at the Westover Hotel on the cliff top.