Start point – Broughton, End point – Kings Somborne, Distance – 5 miles, Difficulty – easy
https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/walking/clarendonway
These photos remind me of a magical part of the walk; perfect weather, glorious countryside, no one around and that feeling of freedom during Covid! So, here is stage 2 of the Clarendon Way.
We decided that for the second part of the walk we would go from Broughton to King’s Somborne – a short evening stroll. I think that the Littlest would have mutinied if we hadn’t, refusing to ever walk again! So, at about 6pm on a perfect summer’s evening, after leaving one car in King’s Somborne (and remembering the right set of keys …), we set off from the village of Broughton. In the churchyard of St Mary’s Church, stands an unusual dovecote dating from 1340, rebuilt in 1684. Locally it’s known by its Roman name of the ‘Columbarium’; it is a circular brick structure with a conical tiled roof and has 482 nesting boxes set into the walls.
We crossed Wallop Brook and continued along the Clarendon Way. To commemorate the Millennium, Broughton commissioned three pieces of art one of which is the Rooks found at the east of the village at the end of Rookery Lane where the Clarendon Way crosses over. Carved by Zoe de l’Isle Whittier out of Portland Stone it shows a parliament of rooks standing above a map of the Clarendon Way with Broughton at the midpoint between Salisbury and Winchester. The stone has aged and collected lichen and dirt making the map difficult to ‘read’ but it’s still beautiful.
The undulating pathway then runs straight alongside crop fields before coming to the Test with its gin-clear water. Walking alongside water is always special; at this time of day you can understand why photographers call it the ‘golden hour’, the light is softer, warmer, more diffused almost creating a gentle glow around everything.
Eventually the route took us to a tarmac road – a very quiet road, which is why GD decided that she needed a bit of a lie down! – before returning to a path alongside another field leading into the village of King’s Somborne. King’s Somborne is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 and has an archaeological record dating back to the Mesolithic period. Behind the church is believed to be the site of John O’Gaunt’s palace dating from the 14th Century and between the village and the river his deer park.
And by 8pm we had our first Covid-19 pub visit to The Crown in King’s Somborne, completing NHS Track & Trace forms. It feels like a million years ago – the prices look rather cheaper too.
