We were in Whitchurch on Sunday 7th July. Not the Whitchurch near Pangbourne, where we often walk, but Whitchurch in Hampshire (between Andover and Basingstoke). Seven of us (4 BWs and 3 BWWs) met up at the station, five arriving by train, for an 8 mile walk inspired by the Whitchurch Mill Trail. My version of the walk was longer and included part of the Harrow Way but missed out a couple of mills.
We made our way south through the village and crossed the River Test by Town Mill. Corn was milled here as recently as 1940, but it has since been converted into a private house. Our route then followed the Test eastward out of the village. The river was hidden from us most of the time by the summer undergrowth. Leaving the Test, we crossed farm land and woodland to reach the hamlet of Laverstoke.
Laverstoke paper mill (15th century) once produced the paper used in Bank of England banknotes. Now it is home to the Bombay Sapphire gin distillery.
We crossed a field to the redundant Church of St Nicholas in nearby Freefolk. This tiny 13th century church contains a Jacobean tomb topped by recumbent effigy of Sir Richard Powlett who died in 1614. Leaving the church, we crossed some grassy fields and found a suitable spot for our picnic lunch.
After lunch we crossed the River Test near Bere Mill, which had also been a paper mill and is now a private residence. Another overgrown footpath took us up to the road, which we followed to the Watership Down Inn where we stopped for refreshment.
Leaving the pub, we passed a long terrace of thatched cottages. Designed in 1939, these terraced cottages and their impressively long thatched roof are a modern oddity.
We left Freefolk and headed uphill, passing through fields of wheat, barley and oats, on our way to the Harrow Way. This long-distance path was made up of a well-established footpath and a quiet lane.
We followed the Harrow Way westward for a while before taking a much less well-established footpath back to Whitchurch. A short bit of road walking brought us back to the station with ten minutes to spare before the next train home. See our route on Google Maps.
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