Alresford

Alresford Station - The Watercress Line

We decided to go a little further away from home than usual for this walk in the pretty Georgian market town of Alresford (pronounced Allsford). It is sometimes referred to as New Alresford, to distinguish it from the much smaller Old Alresford, a mile or so to the north. The helpful town website reveals that Old Alresford was mentioned in the Domesday Book and that (New) Alresford was founded as a planned new town in the early years of the 13th century.

The walk starts at the car park by the station, which is now one end of a refurbished steam line to Alton, the Watercress Line. The station itself is exactly like the Southern Region station in Claygate where I first caught the train to school in 1961.

You walk down Station Road to join West Street and where it runs into East Street, you quickly turn left into Broad Street. The T shaped arrangement of the main streets goes right back to the town's founding. Today Broad Street has a Georgian character.



At the bottom is the tiny Victorian fire station.



You are soon out of the town and then follow a path down to and then alongside the river Alre, or possibly Arle. It seems clear that Alre is the original name, and it is how the river is shown on the OS map, but some signs and several house names refer to Arle. Perhaps Alre was too hard to pronounce?

We enjoyed the unusual sight of this cottage straddling the river.



A little further on the church of Old Alresford becomes visible across some of the watercress beds which are dotted around the area. From Pevsner I learned that the church (St Mary) dates from 1753 and the handsome brick tower with its impressive finials from 1769.



On the edge of Old Alresford you take the Ox Stone Drove for a mile and a quarter to reach Abbotstone. This is a pretty spot surrounded by hills and is almost too small to be called a hamlet. We ended and started legs of the Three Castles Path here last year.



You walk up the lane to the south, with a nice view back ...



... and turn onto another track, confusing called the Ox Drove, part of the Wayfarers' Walk, and follow this, crossing a road, back to the outskirts of Alresford.

The final section follows the banks of the Alre and passes by this interesting early 19th century building known as the Eel House. The three arched channels now control the water flow, but may once have contained eel traps.



From: Pocket Pub Walks: Hampshire by Nigel Vile (Countryside Books).

Map: Explorer 132 (Winchester, New Alresford and East Meon).

Conditions: blue sky, very cold, ground frozen.

Distance: 5.5 miles.

Rating: Four stars. Varied, some interesting sites, lovely tracks, quiet open country.