VISIT SELBORNE

Selborne is magnetic to nature lovers. It nestles below a steep wooded hillside within an area of richly varied landscape, geology and habitat in East Hampshire, inside the South Downs National Park.

Gilbert White’s house and gardens at The Wakes are usually open daily, 10.30am to 5pm, excluding Mondays. The museum contains many of White’s artefacts, plus a café, while the gardens have been restored to how they were in Gilbert’s day. The museum also holds the Oates Collection, relics from Lawrence Oates of the Antarctic and his African-explorer uncle, Frank. (gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk).

There is a sizable car park nearby, with loos, behind The Selborne Arms. This local pub serves meals (selbornearms.co.uk).

From here, explore Selborne, including The Plestor (the village green) and St Mary’s Church. There are several walks through places immortalised in Gilbert’s writings, including the Zig-Zag (see opposite) and The Lythe.

Selborne is four miles from novelist Jane Austen’s cottage at Chawton (janeaustens.house), and equally close to the wooded hillside above Steep where Edward Thomas lived and wrote most of his greatest poetry.