Mottistone Monument & The Long Stone Walk – 4 Miles

• Moderate
• 2 hours – 2 hours 30 mins
• 3.9 miles (6.2 km)
• OS Maps: Landranger 196, Explorer OL29
• Dog friendly

The Walk

Start at the Mottistone Gardens National Trust car park (grid ref: SZ405838).

Take the path down from the car park towards the entrance to Mottistone Gardens. Turn left and go up the sunken path (BS43), then take the right fork signposted “Footpath to the Long Stone and the Downs”. Follow the path upwards, skirting Mottistone Gardens on the right. Cross the track at the top of the stone steps through a kissing gate, and continue uphill to the Long Stone.

Follow the track round to the right then after 30yds (25m) take the path on the left by a wooden bench and interpretation panel, which has more information about the history of the Long Stone. Follow the grassy path gently uphill, with the mounds of Castle Hill on the left near the top of the rise.

Where the path opens out by a fenced tank and wooden bench, turn left towards a line of trees, then diagonally right down the field to a five-bar gate near the right-edge of a copse. Turn right through the side gate and follow the path as far as the tarmac road (Strawberry Lane).

Turn left and follow the road for 750yds (675m) to a lime kiln on the left which is worth inspecting, just after the road begins to climb. Continue up the road to the T-junction. Turn left along the roadside for 30yds (25m) then turn left again.

Go through the gate and follow the track upwards onto Mottistone Down, noticing a number of Bronze Age barrows on the right. Cross over the summit by the prominent Harborough barrow and descend again.

Turn left by a Tennyson Trail wooden finger post, shortly before two metal gates. Almost immediately, turn left again and follow the Public Bridleway. This grassy path gently rises and then descends. Enter a wood through a metal gate and follow the bridleway downwards, keeping to the left edge of the wood.

Turn right onto a track at the next gate. There are fine views across the Mottistone estate down to the sea, and another Bronze Age barrow can be seen on the right. 130yds (120m) after a memorial bench, and shortly before a sharp right bend, turn diagonally left down a path.

Head downwards to a wider crossing path. Ignoring the gate on the right, turn left for 15yds (15m) then right through a kissing gate and continue downhill and back to the car park.

Map

Getting There (Mottistone Estate, Longstone Farmhouse, Strawberry Lane, Mottistone, IOW. Nearest postcode PO30 4EA)

• By road: Mottistone is on the B3399 between Brighstone and Brook. Mottistone Gardens car park is the west of the house, and the entrance is about 100 yards further along the road. Nearest postcode is PO30 4ED.
• By foot: Mottistone is approximately 1 mile (1.6km) north of the Isle of Wight Coast Path. The waymarked Tennyson Trail from Carisbrooke Castle to The Needles is followed between points 5 and 6 on the map.
• By bus: Southern Vectis No 12 service from Newport to Totland passes by Mottistone Gardens. Alight at the green.
• By bike: Round the Island Sustrans regional route 67 passes along the B3399 through Mottistone.

Walk devised by The National Trust