BOAT 36 – “Cradle Lane”: Headley Park to Parish boundary with Kingsley at Baigents Bridge

Updated August 2020

Continues as Kingsley BOAT 29 & Binsted BOAT 75 to Alice Holt Forest. (Part of the Shipwrights Way)

Note: It is said that the name ‘Cradle Lane’ was given because gypsies used a copse along it for their winter quarters, and the women gave birth to their babies in the Spring before setting out on their Summer travelling.

1
A finger post on Pickets Hill Road near the S-bend at Headley Park ...

 

2
... leads through a barrier for cars.

 

3
Soon we pass a stile on the right leading to FP7.

 

4
The BOAT continues ...

 

5
... as a fairly substantial track ...

 

6
... arriving at a concrete ford and a footbridge.

 

7
The ford.

 

8
This is Baigents Bridge and the River Slea which at this point forms the boundary between Headley and Kingsley parishes. Here Headley BOAT 36 becomes Kingsley BOAT 29 and the parish boundary runs along the right-hand (eastern) edge of the track for a while.

 

9
After 50 metres or so, footpaths go off to the left (Kingsley FP26) and to right (Headley FP8). The BOAT continues north, towards Alice Holt Forest and the end of the Shipwrights Way.