The Meon rises as a spring about 2km south of the village of East Meon. From there it flows north west towards Warnford where it turns south, flowing through the villages of Droxford, Soberton, Wickham and Titchfield entering the sea near Hill Head.

It rises in chalk soil and continues as a chalk stream until it begins to flow over sand, silt and clay just south of Mislingford. The National Rivers Authority measure the flow of the river with a gauging weir at this soil boundary in the river's course.

The river is made up of water gathered from surface catchment and from ground water catchment. During the winter the rain not only runs off the surrounding surfaces into the river, it also percolates (soaks through) the soil and flows in underground streams to springs in the river valley. The water again appears at the surface and flows into the river channel. This takes several weeks so that the water in the river is often at its highest in spring time when the ground water table is at its highest following winter rains.

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