Central Southern England - places what I know

27 February 2001

Items contained in same bullet are close together. Grid references refer to the OS map Landranger sheet 185; locations off this map you’ll have to work out for yourself I’m afraid until I get around to adding them. Any changes since the last edition are in italics.

Hampshire – General

Flat green areas by rivers are watercress beds. It takes about 50 minutes to get from the M25/M3 junction to the M3/M27 junction and a further 20 minutes to the New Forest. Probably a further 40 minutes to Purbeck (whatever you do don’t try to go through the centres of Bournemouth or Poole).

The AntiChrist himself (otherwise known as one William Gates CEO of MicroSoft) has heaped praise on the Web site run by Hampshire County Council as a prime example of how good and useful a community web site can be. While I cannot comment on how this site compares to others, I do know, that for reasons I have never been able to fathom out, Hampshire County Council have been for sometime at the forefront of distributing their information electronically. (But it’s not all upside in Hants: there’s Southampton FC; the ongoing fiasco at Swanwick; and a few years ago millions were wasted on a grandiose IT project by the Wessex Health Authority.)

Hampshire - Itchen Valley

• Ovington and Itchen Stoke [SU560320] - park at Itchen Stoke (it’s easiest on the road with semi-detached houses off the B3047); interesting Gothic revival church with windows modelled on Sainte Chappelle in Paris; cross Itchen to Ovington using footpath (lookout for rainbow trout and water voles in very clear water); only pub at Ovington is called the ‘Bush’, where the food is exotic and good but pricey; circular walk possible - via mill and ford, or on other path back across river (I’ve not done this one). Big impressive house at Avington Park [SU534324]; but rarely seems to be open.
• New Alresford [SU585325] is quite pretty, on the road towards Old Alresford there is a pub [SU590333] with a large lake at the back (originally fishpond of Abbey I think). There is a pleasant walk along the river pass a mill that has been turned into a house.
• Good place to park for non-circular river walk and have tea is the garden centre at Brambridge [SU468222]. Garden centre is good too.
• Apart from the cathedral in Winchester, there is also the Hospital of St. Cross [SU475278] that is still inhabited (old meaning of ‘hospital’ here). It is possible to park near St. Cross and walk into the city centre through the water meadows; this is pleasant but is at least a mile each way. Driving into Winchester is pretty horrendous unless you know the rat routes. The cathedral has a good teashop and contains a much-visited memorial to Jane Austen (put up long after her death, she died at a house close by the cathedral).
• NT gardens at Hinton Ampner [SU595275] are pretty and being small it doesn’t take too long to see it all.

Hampshire - Test Valley

• Very expensive fishing rights. Not bad food and superb river views at ‘Mayfly’ [SU381390] pub. (The ducks don’t like celery). Radio telescope at Chilbolton [SU396385] is southernmost node of UK’s V(ery) L(arge) B(aseline) A(rray). Longstock House [SU370388] is owned by John Lewis’ (it is rarely open to the public) and has garden centre run by a man who knows his plants.
• A good place for an easy stroll with good views over the countryside is Stockbridge Down [SU380350] off B3049.
• Mottisfont Abbey [SU327270] is known for its rose collection and scenic location adjacent to the river.

Hampshire - Meon Valley

• The A32 from Alton towards Fareham is quite scenic, a stop at Chawton (Jane Austen’s house) near Alton is possible - see if you can persuade them to fix that squeaky door hinge. (That’s with a ;-) for the literary challenged amongst us.)
• Area around East Meon [SU680220] is area of outstanding natural beauty.
• Meonstoke [SU612202] is worth a stop, park opposite pub that has a name similar to the ‘Roebuck’. There is a lane just pass the pub that leads through a grassed park-like area by the river to the church.
• You can get basic hearty pub fare at the ‘Hunter’s Inn’ just outside Swanmore [SU582161].

Hampshire - New Forest

• Traffic and one-way system in Lyndhurst are horrendous but the main church (the big one on the little hill) has stained glass by Burne-Jones and Rossetti and a wall painting by Leighton. It also has (very disappointing) grave of Alice ‘In Wonderland’ Liddell.
• Church at Minstead is listed grade 1. Looks nothing from outside but very interesting internal features and font.
• Ancient church and impressive house at Breamore. However, probably best reason to go there is to see the very rare Mizmaze in the woods. There is one of the few surviving pagan mazes in the world.
• At the end of August there is a lot of heather about plainly visible even from the main roads. Beware of the animals wandering across and along the minor roads.

Dorset - Purbeck

• Take minor road down to Tyneham (village abandoned during WWII) and walk down to the sea at Worbarrow Tump.
• Good views from Old Harry rocks at Studland. About half a mile of easy (if possibly bracing) walking along the cliff top from Studland village. You get the sweep of the bay round to Poole and Bournemouth and if you are lucky will be able to see over to the Needles on the Isle of Wight (which forms the next visible outcrop of the chalk making up Purbeck.)

Dorset - not Purbeck

• T.E. Lawrence’s house is at Cloud’s Hill, Bovington. It is very small and is not worth the money unless you are an NT member or a fan.
• House where Thomas Hardy was born is at Higher Brockhampton. It was pretty crowded when we went. The house where he lived most of his life (and died?) at Max Gate is also open. The whole of this area is Hardy’s Wessex; but most of ‘Egdon Heath’ is now covered with forestry commission conifers.
• Tank Museum at Bovington is good if you like that sort of thing.
• Golden Cap is highest point on South Coast; but the rock is soft in this area and there is not a vertical drop to the sea. Views from A35 near Chideock are spectacular.
• Bournemouth is a nice place to stay. It is a classy seaside resort that has moved with the times (like Torquay) and is very prosperous.

Wiltshire

· The close of Salisbury Cathedral close is meant to be the most beautiful of them all. Edward Heath has a house there and several others are NT. Unlike most other cathedrals it was built in a single - Gothic - style. Walks alongside River Avon are nice - if you can find them.

· Near Shaftesbury town centre is a very steep cobbled hill called Gold Hill. This is where a very famous British TV advertisement for Hovis bread was filmed. The tone of the advert is meant to evoke the atmosphere of the north of England; but the location is actually here.

West Sussex

JMW Turner came to fame for his work at Petworth House. The town of Petworth is worth seeing as well; but if you park in the official NT car park you will have a long walk through the grounds to the House and then past the restaurant and out through the back entrance to the town. It will be less of a walk to park in a car park in town and use the back entrance to get to the House and grounds.