Alton's Sunday best

Above: There's nothing like a Sunday walk. Photo by Justin Kercher

Above: Visit the Allen Gallery

Above: Hinton Ampner gardens

Above: Alice Holt Country Park. Photo by Justin Kercher

Above: The Watercress Line

Alton has a colourful mix of historic buildings juxtaposed against modern shops and arcades. This small market town and surrounding area is bursting with literary and cultural heritage integral to Hampshire, just waiting to be explored.

Ancient forest
Alice Holt Forest is on the Hampshire/Surrey boarder. It is perfect for cycling and walking, but also picnicking and observing wildlife. This ancient forest is notorious for its oak trees and historically supplied navy ships.
On Sunday, June 8, at Alice Holt Forest, CTC, the UK and Ireland’s largest and longest established national cycling membership organisation, holds its
annual women’s ride – ‘Five Miles to Fabulous’. The ride isn’t competitive, it
is about having fun, getting fit and meeting new people; it is also free to
enter. Telephone 07717 721511 for more details.

Glorious gardens
If you are potty about plants and love gardens why not stroll around the National Trust’s Hinton Ampner Garden in Bramdean? The garden is well known for its ground-breaking colour schemes and fragrant plants. There is also an elegant country house on site, bursting with Italian paintings and Regency furniture.

Heavenly building
If you are fascinated by religious history you will love Alton Abbey. Found in the little village of Beech, just beyond Alton, it has been described as ‘the best kept secret in the Church of England’. The Benedictine Monastery was built in 1895 by the monks very own hands. Under the watchful guidance of Sir Charles Nicholson, a distinguished architect, the monks built the Abbey with a guest house to look after retired sailors.
Telephone 01420 562145 or 01420 563575.

Steam power
Leave the car behind and explore Hampshire on the train. Relive the age of steam and jump on The Watercress Line (also known as Mid Hants Railway). Take in the scenery as you travel through Alton, Alresford, Ropley, Meadstead and Four Marks. Each station is loaded with things to see and do, from picnic areas to station buildings such as warehouses, goods sheds and engine sheds.

Gone fishing
If you fancy catching your lunch, why not partake in a spot of fishing? Whitewool Farm in East Meon, is set in three acres with two spring fed lakes. It is open all year round and excellent for those who want to fish brown and rainbow trout. The site has excellent facilities, including toilets, refreshments, snacks, and pitches for tents and caravans. Fees apply. Telephone 01730 823134 for more details.

By the river
Running through the heart of Alton is the River Wey. This river is very unique in that it is fed by two sources from two separate rivers that share the same name. The northern branch rises near Alton and
joins the southern branch of Franham in Surrey. Together they form a single
river which runs northwards towards
the Thames.
With miles of public footpaths and bridleway, the Wey also offers the opportunity to learn about wildlife – including habitats, trees and medicinal plants and insects.
The River Wey has inspired many artists – including painters, photographers, boat art and graffiti artists. If you venture along the river you will eventually see magnificent displays of artwork, both uninvited and commissioned. See www.weyriver.co.uk for more details.

MUSEUMS
Curtis Museum
If you are looking for something cultural, why not start with the Curtis Museum? Found on Alton’s High Street, the museum holds one of the finest collections of local history in Hampshire going back some 100 million years. The display includes Saxon burials, Roman pottery, the Battle of Alton 1643, the Alton Buckle and the Selborne Cup. Admission is free. Telephone 0845 603 5635.

No plain Jane
Just a stone’s throw outside Alton is Chawton, a little village made famous by Jane Austen. Literary fans will be thrilled to visit Jane Austen’s House Museum, while those who are not aware of her story couldn’t hope to find a more comprehensive and interesting source.
The museum sells a diverse range of memorabilia from postcards and pictures to books and bags.
On Friday, June 27, Jane Austen’s House Museum is having a summer garden walk and open evening. Join gardener Celia Simpson as she takes you around the garden and talks about the flowers. This drop in event starts at 4.30pm and lasts approximately 45 minutes. The museum will also be open in the evening that day with live music in the Drawing Room.
Jane Austen’s House Museum,
Chawton, Alton
Tel: 01420 83262
Admission: Adults £6,
Concessions £5, Children £2

White Wash
Why not venture out to Selborne and discover Gilbert White’s House and The Oates Museum? Just five miles from Alton, set in the beautiful Hampshire countryside, are these historic buildings devoted to the lives and times of two of the most important individuals in the discovery of the natural world.

Gilbert White
The Reverend Gilbert White (1720-1793) is noted as the founding father of modern natural history recording. Along with the help of a close friend and correspondent, Daines Barrington, White went on to be published and became known as a pioneer in the appreciation of the autonomy of animals and plants.
Gilbert White lived in the house for most of his life – except when bound to stay in Oxford for Oriel College commitments. All the rooms have been restored to the exact standard as those described by White himself in correspondences. As well as displaying the original manuscript of White’s book ‘Natural History and Antiques of Selborne’, the house is full of family portraits, personal belongings and furniture of the time; it also houses a chair he used at Oriel.

Oates Family and Museum
The Oates Museum celebrates the Oates family and their exploits, in particular Captain Lawrence Oates and his Uncle Frank Oates. Lawrence Oates, a soldier, explorer and ‘gallant gentleman’, achieved immortality with the famous parting remark, “I am just going outside and
may be some time,” a remark he muttered on his disastrous, fateful South Pole expedition. Frank Oates, a remarkable Victorian explorer, was
one of the first Europeans to see Victoria Falls. Frank’s journals and letters
were compiled and edited by his
brother, Charles George Oates and published in 1881 as Matabele
Land and the Victoria Falls; A Naturalist’s Wanderings in the Interior of South Africa.
Sit and enjoy a cup of tea and homemade cake in the elegantly restored dining room known as The Tea Parlour.
Gilbert White’s House and The Oates Museum, The Wakes, Selborne
Tel: 01420 511275
Admission: Adults £6.50, concessions

Sunday walk - Total distance: 5 miles. Minimum time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

Jane Austen’s Chawton: A gentle ramble through the pastoral countryside that surrounds Chawton where Jane Austen sought inspiration for her great novels.

1. Turn left out of the car park, opposite Jane Austen’s House, and walk along a dead end lane. Pass the school and turn into Ferney Close. Keep to the left and bear left along a path beside Ferney Bungalow to a stile. Continue along the left-hand field edge to a stile and cross (with care) the A32.
2. Climb steps and a stile and walk along the left-hand field edge, leading to a stile on your left. Go through a copse, following the path right, then left between fields to reach a track, a former railway track bed. Keep ahead at a crossing of paths, the track now earth and shaded by trees.
3. On reaching a bridge, bear left with the main path towards silos, the path soon passing behind them to reach a stile. Cross the A32 and join a track leading to Manor Farm. At a crossing of tracks, by a children’s play area, turn right. Take the narrow path left at the bottom of the play area to reach a track.
4. Turn right to the lane in Upper Farringdon, opposite Massey’s Folly. Turn left into the churchyard and leave by the main gate, turning left along the lane. Keep ahead along Gaston Lane for ½ mile (800m) to a track on your left.
5. Turn left then shortly take the grassy track right to a gate, then climb the stile ahead into open pasture. Keep right of the brook, cross a stile and then the bridge over the brook on your left. Keep going, with the brook to your right, to a stile at the end of the field.
6. Turn immediately left and pass through a gate to join a permissive path between fences. Follow it right, towards Whitehouse Farm. At a junction of paths by a track, turn left though a gate and keep to the right-hand field edge to a gate.
7. Bear right across the field to stiles set in the hedge and maintain direction across three more fields and stiles towards Eastfield Farm. Skirt round the farm via yellow-topped squeeze-stiles through several fields to reach a stile beside woodland, located beyond a corrugated iron shed.
8. Go through the copse to a stile and then bear half-left across a field to a further stile. Continue ahead to a stile in the wall and walk along a narrow footpath back to the main village street. Turn left back to the car park.

Nurseries and farm shops

While you’re out and about, drop
in to your local garden centres
and farm shops

Brocks Farm Shop, Manor Farm,
West Worldham, Alton
Tel: 01420 82107

Westlea Farm Shop, Itchen Stoke Road, Ladycroft, Alresford
Tel: 01962 732476

Mill Farm, Isington, Alton
Tel: 01420 22331

Hillside Nursery,
Basingstoke Road, Alton
Tel: 01420 80544

Avenue Nurseries Garden Centre, The Avenue, Avenue Rd, Alton
Tel: 01256 381648

Garthowen, Alton Lane, Alton
Tel: 01962 773225