Test Way: St Mary Bourne to Ibthorpe

Notes

General Data

The Test Valley has been left well behind, as this walk follows the hills on the south side of the Bourne Rivulet. There are some good views at times over this wonderful stretch of Hampshire countryside.

Distance		4.5 miles
Ascent		492 feet
Descent		390 feet
Est. time		1 hours 56 minutes
Difficulty		easy

Map of the leg

Maps courtesy of Google Maps. Route for indicative purposes only, and may have been plotted after the walk. Please let me have comments on what you think of this new format.

Directions

This walks starts off at the Coronation Inn in St Mary Bourne. Leave the pub and turn left up School Lane to meet the Test Way by some gates leading into Haven Hill.Turn right and walk along the lane, with the school on the right, and when the road curves to the left follow it as the road becomes slightly rougher underfoot. After a few yards turn right to cross a stile and take a footpath that turns behind houses, and just before a stile is reached ahead turn left to cross another stile and head diagonally uphill towards a stile in the upper-right hand corner of the field. Cross this stile,and walk through a small patch of woodland to reach a road.

Turn right along the road for a couple of yards and then turn left, to climb up some steps and cross a stile and follow the footpath along with a hedge on the right, slowly climbing. The path then turns to the right and immediately to the left to continue on with a hedge on the left as the views open out to the right. At the end of the field the path turns to the left to head through some trees, and then after a couple of yards turn right across a stile to walk along with a fence on the right and a hedge on the left. Continue straight on as the path crosses six stiles with the hedge remaining on the left; the last stile is beside a gate that leads out onto a road.

Turn right down this road for about ten yards and then turn to the left to walk up a surfaced lane. When this forks through the gateway into Stokehill Farm take the left-hand fork, and after about twenty-five yards take another right-hand fork that leads up to a gate. Go through the gate and turn right, to continue on along the right-hand side of the field. Keep the hedge to the right as it passes a little patch of trees until the corner of the field is reached, and then go through a clapper gate. In the next field keep the hedge to the right and continue on to another stile. On the other side follow the hedge for a short distance to another stile by a gate, and go through this to enter the woods on Wallop Hill Down.

On the other side of the stile the path follows a track through the woods. When the track turns to the left the path plunges on through trees. When the tree cover becomes sparser take another footpath that leads off to the right, heading downhill steeply through the woods to cross a track before emerging out into an open field. Turn left and then immediately to the right to head straight down a track until this reaches the bottom of the slope, and then turn left to walk along another grassy track until a farm building is reached. Then turn right to walk down to Lower Farm. Walk past the farm and join a road that passes a school on the left to reach the B3048 Church Street in Hurstbourne Tarrant opposite the village church. Turn left and follow the road westwards for a couple of hundred yards until a junction with the A343 road is reached in the centre of the village.

Turn right to walk northeastwards along the road for about fifty yards. Just before the post office is reached the Test Way leads off to the left, and follow the path as it heads over a series of gates before entering a paddock with a small stream to the left. Continue on along the path through more clapper gates before reaching a stretch of path with fences on either side. Head down this path, and when it ends at a track turn left and soon after it curves to the right it ends at a road in Ibthorpe.

Places of interest

Hursbourne Tarrant and Ibthorpe

Hursbourne Tarrant is a small village situated on the River Swift in northwest Hampshire. It has many fine buildings, not least of which is the 12th-century St Peter's church. The village has a pub, the George and Dragon, and also a busy shop and post office.

A decoy airfield was built near to the village during the Second World War. It was designed to attract attacking bombers away from the main Andover airfield.

Adjacent to Hurstbourne Tarrant is the little hamlet of Ibthorpe, which is dominated by the chequered-brick Ibthorpe House. Jane Austen frequently visited her friends Martha and Mary Lloyd at the house. Many of the other houses in the hamlet are thatched, making it a particularly scenic place.

location UID #113

St Mary Bourne

St Mary Bourne is a pretty village situated near to the Test Valley. The village is built around the Bourne Rivulet, a tributary of the Test.

It has two pubs, with a third a short distance south of the village. There is also a local community-run shop with varying opening hours. Also nearby is Vitacress, one of the largest watercress companies in the world.

A local GP constructed a lake at the southern end of the village; a good wheelchair-accessible path leads past this.

location UID #195