How to get there
We will re-opened on Friday 17th July 2009.
Access work includes:
- New & improved pathways
- A boardwalk trail with new signage & information boards
- Improved access for visitors, including those using wheelchairs & pushchairs
The Durngate entrance is at OS grid reference SU 486 297
- Entrance via Durngate is a ten minute walk from Winchester city centre and ¾ mile from Winchester train station. The entrance is opposite the Willow Tree pub.
- There are regular trains to Winchester from Southampton, Portsmouth and Basingstoke. From the station there are regular park'n'ride buses down North Walls to Durngate
- The nearest car parks are Durngate, 50m from the southern entrance and Riverside Leisure Centre, 300m from the North Walls recreation ground entrance.
Getting around
In the southern end of the reserve a circular walk leads you along the riverbank and other waterways, with great views of the bird and plant life that abounds here.
- There is a bridge with 5 steps at the entrance off the recreation ground. A surfaced circular path, 1 mile long, takes you around the tall fen & reedbed in the southern part of the reserve. Two sections of boardwalk allow visitors to detour inwards allowing fantastic views across the reedbed.
- Access to the northern part of the reserve is restricted to supervised groups only.
Why not combine your visit with a stop at the National Trust's City Mill? Here you can watch footage of otters passing though the mill (Admission to the Mill is free to Wildlife Trust members). Click to download the Winnall leaflet, explaining how to get there from the National Trust's City Mill and how to get around the reserve.
