The theme for Damian's column this month in the Petersfield Post honours the literary heritge of East Hampshire, with details of six published walks that enable people to follow in the footsteps of the famous writers who visited and lived in the District.
East Hampshire enjoys an extraordinary literary heritage, which is brought to life brilliantly by six different walks that enable you to follow in the footsteps of our local literary stars.
The routes take you across some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain, which may help to explain why the writers came here, but also the inspiration they drew from both the landscape and people they lived among.
The first is a walk around Steep – the home of poet Edward Thomas – which takes you up Shoulder of Mutton Hill and to his memorial stone. Next year will be the centenary of his death during World War I, yet the views he enjoyed are probably just as memorable today as they were when he strode along the paths all those years ago.
Less well known to many might be William Cobbett – a notable local resident who featured many routes in his book Rural Rides. He described his adventurous journey in 1822 from East Meon to Thursley as he reached Hawkley “...out we came, all in a moment, at the very edge of the hanger! And never, in all my life, was I so surprised and so delighted! I pulled up my horse, and sat and looked; and it was like looking from the top of a castle down into the sea...” and this walk includes Cobbett’s View as it tackles the hangers around the village.
Nearby to this is the walk inspired by Gilbert White –author of the classic book, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789) – which takes in the famous zigzag path and the beeches of Dorton Wood, as well as the 12th century church that features a stained glass window with birds, erected in 1920 for the bicentenary of White’s birth.
Next month will mark a hundred years since Flora Thompson moved to Liphook and she is remembered with a walk across Weavers Down and Chapel Common. This was a route she took many times and recorded the view as “...a perfect panorama of beauty” in the Guide to Liphook, Bramshott and Neighbourhood that she wrote in 1925.
The nearest one to Petersfield is in Buriton, which W H Hudson first visited in 1900 before writing his book Hampshire Days in 1903. The route developed in his name takes in the Hangers Way, the South Down Way and an ancient track called the Milky Way as it cuts a route through the chalky hills around the village.
And finally, a walk through Chawton that will take you past the world famous home of Jane Austen and the ‘Great House’ where her brother lived that is now the Chawton House Library. The gentle route also includes a section of the disused Meon Valley railway that ran between Alton and Farnham, and when visiting the picturesque village today, it is hard to believe that 2017 will mark two hundred years since Jane Austen’s death.
A great way to celebrate some of our local heritage, and catch a breath of fresh air at the same time.
The pack of walks is available to buy from the Tourist Information Office in The Square, or they can be downloaded for free from the East Hampshire District Council website at:http://www.easthants.gov.uk/walking
Article written by Damian Hinds and published in the Petersfield Post on 27th July 2016