Start – Alresford, End – Droxford, Distance – 11 miles, Difficulty – moderate
https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/walking/wayfarerswalk-alresford
Having parked cars at the beginning and end of the route, this leg started on a balmy late May day initially taking us through the churchyard of New Alresford’s St John the Baptist. In the graveyard there are grave stones of 4 Napoleonic French officers; Alresford was one of 11 parole towns in Hampshire during the 18th Century and in 1757 there were 300 French prisoners of war living in Alresford. The trail took us over the railing line, out of the town and across the Tichborne Estate before we were once again walking alongside hedgerow lined fields and glorious swathes of frothing cow parsley.
At Cheriton Mill we crossed the River Itchen and across some fields with grazing cattle before a gentle climb up the downs where we follow a section of the Cheriton Battlefield Walk commemorating the 1644 battle of the Civil War. In spring of 1644, the Royalist army won Alresford, setting up camp on the high ground of Tichborne Down while the Parliamentarians camped on the lower ground at Hinton Ampner. The battle resulted in an important victory for the Parliamentarians that helped shape the future of England. It’s hard to imagine such a battle as we walked across peaceful idyllic countryside.
The trail continued across the picturesque grounds of the National Trust’s Hinton Ampner house and estate, before a brief pitstop with some sheep and lambs. Crossing more fields took us to Kilmeston and its quaint village hall and then we were back up to the downs and to the marvellously named Betty Mundy’s Bottom, a long valley on the Preshaw Estate. The unique name might date back to 70AD when Roman soldiers supposedly camped there and called the location ‘Beati Mundae’ meaning most beautiful place in teh world. However, the popular legend is that about 200 years ago a woman named Betty Mundy – a woman of ill repute – lived there and the path passing her home was frequently used by discharged sailors who would be carrying their wages. Betty Mundy supposedly lured the sailors into her cottage and murdered them, stealing their wages and disposing of their bodies down the well in her garden. The track became known as ‘sailors lane’. Yet another legend believes that Betty was in cahoots with a press gang and once she tempted local farm labourers to walk with her, the press gangs would ambush the men and take them into the navy, giving Betty a commission for her troubles! Her cottage is now a rather impressive estate although it was on the market for some time, being reduced from £10m to just below £8m. Perhaps the ghosts of sailors kept potential buyers away! On the day we are walking it is peaceful and utterly lovely.
The footpath takes us across more fields, this time surrounded by huge mature trees, before crossing a road and following the path through a woodland where the ground is covered in wild garlic! I am delighted and we pick enough to make a decent amount of wild garlic pesto to keep us going for a while (and it is delicious).
By this time it’s early evening the sun is lower in the sky as we cross Corhampton Golf Club and then follow a road down towards Droxford; this last mile always feels a bit longer but we did it – another leg completed and we even had smiling faces at the end!
