Walking Weekend: New Alresford
Walk from the ‘watercress capital’ of Britain: down by the gin-clear waters of the Itchen and Alre, and up into Hampshire’s South Downs.
Two days ready-made amid the gin-clear waters of Hampshire.
Situated on the south side of the River Alre, New Alresford, commonly referred to as just Alresford (pronounced Allsford), is older than it sounds, dating to the 12th century. Fires in the 17th century destroyed the original timber-framed houses, so much of the architecture seen today is Georgian. The original settlement, the quiet village of Old Alresford, lies to the north. Alresford is known as the UK’s capital of watercress farming, and is the terminus for the Watercress Line heritage railway, which formerly transported watercress to London. The town is surrounded by some lovely countryside, with a good network of footpaths and bridleways providing scope for a variety of walks. Around the town itself there is a short circuit called the Millennium Trail with display boards about the local history along the way, and a longer version, the Alre Valley Trail. Our first day’s walk explores the countryside to the north, taking in a picturesque riverside stretch, rolling downland and a magnificent neoclassical mansion, The Grange at Northington, set in a beautiful grounds. Day two’s walk, a circuit around the Itchen Valley from the village of Cheriton to the south of the town, also includes an impressive residence, the National Trust’s Hinton Ampner.
That’s natural, because your brain is an energy-preserving device that hasn’t fully twigged we don’t live in a world of food scarcity any more – and it’s aided and abetted by that primadonna ‘motivation’. Don’t pander to it. Practise discipline instead. Because though one part of you doesn’t feel like it, a better part knows just how glad you’ll be you walked today. When we consult our motivation, it’s a riffle through the excuse book (‘Let’s see if it brightens up’, ‘We’re too busy’,‘What’s the point?’ ad infinitum). When you let discipline take over, it’s an easy autopilot: off the sofa, hit the pavements and paths for 45 minutes’ or an hour’s walk, KNOW you’ll feel great you did. And filling in those little windows on your 1000-mile progress chart builds capital you can’t lose and momentum you won’t want to.