14th April 2025 - Chawton
Chawton Walk 14 April 2025
AS,S&JE, P&LG, LF, FB, SS, AG,IP, H&JR, J&ME, MC
After several weeks of warm sunny weather, 15 walkers set off from the centre of
Chawton, which this year celebrates the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth
(although she was born in the village of Steventon about 15 miles away) in quite chilly
conditions.
The four and a half mile walk took us past the entrance to Chawton House, which once
belonged to Jane’s brother, Edward, and then through Noar Copse and on to the
Berryhill Plantation. We then descended into Upper Farringdon, and through the
Church of All Saints’, which boasts a 3,000 year old yew tree, one of the ten oldest in
the country. We then walked through the village, admiring the varied architecture
and had a coffee stop in the village hall garden.
Then it was across the A32 and along the disused Meon Valley railway line which ran
between Alton and Fareham, and which follows the St Swithun’s Way from
Winchester to Farnham, though much is now swallowed up by the A31.
We then recrossed the A32 and after walking through footpaths we reached the old
road again and retraced our steps back to the village, where several of us enjoyed
lunch at Cassandra’s Cup.
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