Alton Circular Walk

Main walk 20.4 km (12.7 miles)

Short walk to Chawton 12.1 km (7.5 miles)

Alternative ending Adds 2km (1.2 miles)

a) Short walk to Chawton: This follows a direct route from Alton to Upper Farringdon, joining the main walk route there. This makes a total walk of 12.1km (7.5 miles). This is a useful option if you want time to visit Jane Austen's House in Chawton, 9.3km (5.7 miles) into the walk.

b) Alternative ending from Chawton to Alton: This route avoids the road walking through the centre of Alton, partly reversing the outward route of option a) in the process. Note that it is somewhat afflicted by noise from the A31 in places, if the wind is in the wrong direction. It is 2km (1.2 miles) longer than the main route, and so 4.8km (3 miles) from Chawton to Alton railway station compared to 2.8km (1.8 miles) by the main walk route.

Two trains an hour run between Waterloo and Alton (one hourly on Sunday; journey time about 1 hour 10 minutes). Take the first train after 9am from Waterloo to get to lunch in time, or to have time to visit Jane Austen’s House on the short walk. For those driving, Alton station has a pay car park, or you can park anywhere in the centre of Alton and walk to the station to start.

There is a very limited bus service calling at Selborne Monday to Friday. Buses go to Alton one way and Petersfield in the other, in both cases serving the railway station.

The Church St Mary, East Worldham dates from the 12th century, though it was extensively renovated in the fifteenth century. Shortly afterwards, it was given by the Bishop of Winchester to his newly founded Magdalen College in Oxford. A 14th century effigy in the south wall was once thought to mark the burial place of Philippa, wife of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, though this is now disputed. Chaucer's son Thomas was Lord of the Manor here.

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Gilbert White would have remained just another obscure 18th century curate, and Selborne just another minor Hampshire village, but for The Natural History of Selborne, White’s account of the wildlife in the area, which was published towards the end of his life in 1797, and has never been out of print since.

White was born in Selborne in 1720, attended Oriel College, Oxford, and after some attempts to have an academic career was ordained as a clergyman in 1749. But he failed in his attempts to find a fixed appointment as a vicar of a parish and instead returned to his native village.

He took up residence in The Wakes, the house he had lived in as a child, and became curate (that is, the deputy for an absentee vicar) in the nearby village of Upper Farringdon. He stayed in this lowly post for the rest of his life, developing his garden and corresponding with fellow clergymen about nature.

In the latter respect he was not unusual among 18th century clergymen, but he stands out for the sheer detail of his observations, lively writing style, and above all his fascination for the ordinary wildlife around him rather than exotic species and curiosities. As a result, he is now credited with being one of the first true ecologists.

All of the places that White loved can still be seen on this walk: Selborne Hangar and Common, with the Zigzag Path up it made by White and his brother; the wooded meadows of the Short and Long Lythe; Selborne church, where his grandfather (also called Gilbert White) features in the list of historical vicars just inside the church door; and Upper Farringdon church, where he served as a curate, and which has an impressively ancient yew tree by the church door.

White was buried in a simple grave, marked only with the letters GW, in the churchyard in Selborne. His house and garden is preserved as Gilbert White's House which is open 10.30am-4.30pm Tuesday to Sunday.

The museum also has a section on Captain Lawrence Oates of Scott of the Antarctic fame – the man who stepped out of the tent to die in a blizzard saying: “I am just going outside. I may be gone for some time”. The reason is that, when the Gilbert White Society were trying to raise money to buy The Wakes in 1953, the Oates family offered to help on condition their family collection was exhibited too.

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Chawton. Though her novels are set elsewhere, Jane Austen was always a Hampshire girl at heart and she was devastated when her father retired in 1801 as vicar of Steventon, a small North Hampshire village, and moved his family to Bath. Jane hated Bath and wrote nothing during this period. Worse, when her father died four years later, she, her sister Cassandra and their mother were left with little money and no fixed home.

It was Jane's brother Edward who finally came to the rescue. He had been adopted by the wealthy but childless Knight family, and so had inherited the Great House at Chawton (now Chawton House whose house and garden may be Wednesday to Sundays from 10am to 4.30pm). Edward found his sisters and mother a house in the centre of the village, and they moved there in July 1809.

Jane was delighted by "our Chawton home", and immediately started writing again. Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion were all written here, and it was while living in Chawton that she first won outside acclaim as a novelist when her youthful novels - Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility - were at last published. The house is now run as Jane Austen's House and is open daily until 5pm in summer but only to 4.30pm and on fewer days of the week in winter: check online for details. It contains various items connected with the author, including some of her jewellery and the table at which she used to write. She kept the hinges of the door to this room deliberately unoiled so that they would squeak as it was opened, giving her time to conceal her work if anyone came in.

Alas Jane's happiness at Chawton proved shortlived, as in 1817 she fell ill with a mystery illness, and died in Winchester, where she had gone for medical treatment. Because she was the daughter of a clergyman, she was buried in the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral. Cassandra and her mother remained in Chawton for the rest of their lives, however, and are buried in the churchyard around the back of St Nicholas's Church, which like the Great House is passed on this walk.

The walk from Chawton to All Saint's Church, Upper Farringdon was a favourite of Jane's, not just because it passed through her brother's estate, but because she was friends with the family of John Benn, the vicar there: in her letters she writes of walking over to Farringdon for tea. Gilbert White was also curate here from 1761 to 1784 (that is, some time before Jane Austen lived in Chawton, though he knew and visited with Jane's father when the latter was Vicar of Steventon). Note the amazing and very ancient hollowed out yew tree in the churchyard (to the left of the church door, as you approach it from the road)

The curious red brick building across the road from Farringdon church is Massey's Folly. Designed and built by the Reverend Thomas Massey, with only three local labourers to help him, it took 30 years to complete between 1880 and 1910. The design was apparently influenced by the daughter of an Indian civil servant, who used to visit Massey secretly. The building stood empty for 15 years after its construction; it was then turned into the village hall and school

Three Horseshoes East Wordham (01420 559258) Situated 4km (2.5 miles) into the main walk, this is a possible early lunch stop, serving food from 12-2.30pm Tuesdays to Saturday and 12-3.30pm on Sunday

Selborne Arms Selborne (01420 511247). Situated 10.2km (6.3 miles) into the main walk, this is pleasant rural pub with a garden, and is the suggested lunch stop. It serves food 12-2pm Monday to Saturdays and 12-3pm on Sundays. Dinner is from 6.30-8.30pm and the pub is open all afternoon for drinks at weekends.

White's Cafe Selborne, attached to Gilbert White's House but accessible without paying an entrance fee to it, serves soups, sandwiches and quiches 10.30 to 4.30pm Tuesdays to Sundays and bank holidays (to 3.30pm in winter: hot items only available to 2pm year round) . It has some outside tables overlooking Gilbert White's garden. The Jubilee Tap (the former Queens Head pub) across the road from the cafe is open 5.30-9.30pm Thursday to Saturday for drinks only, serving "the Gilbert White range of beers".

The Rose & Crown in Upper Farringdon (01420 587001), 6.3km (3.9 miles) into the shorter walk and 14.6km (9 miles) into the main walk, is an upmarket pub that serves food 12-2pm Monday to Friday, 12-2.30pm Saturday and 12-3pm Sunday, and again in the evening at 6pm Monday to Saturday. It is open all afternoon for drinks at weekends, but closed 3.30pm to 6pm weekdays. Booking is advised on all days, but especially on Sundays.

Cassandra’s Cup. This tea room opposite Jane Austen’s House, open till 5pm daily, serves fine home-made cakes.

Chawton House may also have a tea room for those paying to visit the house (check this, as its status was not clear in October 2025), and the green hut that acts as its ticket office serves hot drinks without paying for admission, but only until 3pm or so.

Greyfriar Chawton (01420 513595). Opposite Jane Austen’s House, this pub and its small garden another possible refreshment stop in Chawton, open all afternoon for drinks daily. It serves food from 1pm to 3pm and 6pm to 9pm Monday to Saturday and from 12pm to 5pm on Sundays.

Tea stops in Alton include a Caffè Nero open till 5pm Monday to Saturday and 4.30pm Sundays and a Costa Coffee open till 6pm Monday to Friday, 5.30pm Saturdays and 4.30pm on Sundays. It also has several pubs.

Picnic: There are several fine places for a picnic on the section between East Worldham and Selborne, particularly in the clearings in the Binswood and around the pond in paragraph 42. The Long and Short Lythe valleys on the last half mile into Selborne, as well as the hill leading up to the church, are also particularly enchanting picnic spots. On a) Short walk from Chawton the churchyard at Upper Farringdon has several pleasant benches.

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Nov-25 Peter