Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Walk 48 : Whitchurch to Andover
Longparish, thatched cottages & River Test
| Length | 17km (10.6 miles), 5 hours 10 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 9 hours 10 minutes. |
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| OS Landranger Map | No.185. Whitchurch, map reference SU 464 489, is in Hampshire, 16km north of Winchester. |
| Toughness | 3 out of 10. |
| Features | This is a longish walk that is neither steep nor particularly liable to mud. At lunchtime it comes to so many thatched cottages that an alien might suppose thatch to be a most popular roofing material for twentieth-century earthlings. The route initially follows the line of a dismantled railway and passes the Church of All Hallows in Whitchurch to go along the River Test - 'England's most famous trout stream' - to a pub specialising in fish dishes, in the village of Longparish. The church at Longparish, with punishment stocks beside it, is the first stop after lunch, then the walk goes via a hamlet of more thatched cottages along the River Test and up into Harewood Forest, past a vast piggery and eventually on a straight footpath all the way into Andover, with its tearooms, pubs, church and museum. |
| Shortening the Walk | The first part of the walk is perhaps the more interesting, so you could catch one of the hourly buses to Andover, at lunchtime (after 8km of walking) from the Plough Inn at Longparish. |
| History |
Whitchurch has a working silk mill, still powered by a waterwheel - visiting this involves a 1km detour from the main route. The mill (tel 01256 893 882), at 28 Winchester Street, is open 10.30am to 5pm daily (closed Monday). Admission is £2.50; £1.90 concessions. All Hallows Church, Whitchurch, has Norman arches and pillars with Victorian embellishments, and a gruesome 1602 story picture about those who disobeyed the commandments (for instance, 'one stoned for gathering stocks on the Sabbath Day'). St Mary's Church, Tufton, has a late Saxon chancel arch, a 1720 grandfather clock and an 800-year-old wall painting of St Christopher, depicted unrealistically so as not to infringe the commandment 'Thou shalt not make any graven images'. Stocks for the punishment of offenders were erected in every village during Edward III's reign. Those in Longparish are among the few still remaining. The Church of St Nicholas, Longparish, was perhaps used as a stable by Cromwellian troops. It has a stained-glass window in remembrance of Major Hawker VC, an air force pilot shot down in 1916. Andover had its ancient heart of timber-framed buildings removed courtesy of a Greater London Council Town Development Scheme in the 1960s. The town has a museum tel 01264 366 283) at 6 Church Close, just to the east of the church. It is open until 5pm Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Sunday in winter). The church closes at 4pm. It is made of Caen stone brought up the old canal from France; the stone was wrongly faced so the church is crumbling. George II used to stay at the Danebury Hotel in Andover on the way to his beloved Weymouth. Lord and Lady Nelson also stayed there. |
| Lunch | The suggested lunchtime stop is the gourmet Plough Inn tel 01264 720 358), Longparish, which specialises in seafood. Meals are served midday to 2.15pm daily; groups of more than ten should phone to book. Should you be unlikely to reach this pub in time, 20 minutes earlier in the walk you come to the more modest Cricketers Inn, Longparish, serving food midday to 2.30pm daily. |
| Driving |
Start: Whitchurch (Hants) Station is near : RG28 7BZ. [gmap] Finish: Andover Station is near : SP10 3HW. [gmap] |
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| Train Travel |
London to Whitchurch (Hants) | Andover to London |
| Warning | The text above was taken from an older edition of the book, and is a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk. |
Walking Instructions
For a map and detailed walking instruction, please see Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
