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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Saturday 21 May 2016

Saturday Second Walk - Jane Austen's literary landscape

SWC Walk 97 - Overton Circular
Length: 18.7km (11.6 miles)
Toughness: 4 out of 10

9.50 train from Waterloo (9.57 Clapham Junction) to Overton, arriving 10.46

For walk directions click here.

This walk has been "hors de combat" for a while because its most convenient lunch pub closed. But the other lunch pub, The Fox in North Waltham, is very acceptable and seemed to cope well with the midweek walkers recently. The problem used to be that it required and out and back diversion from the main walk route, but a new route has now been created after lunch involving a walk down a quiet tarmac lane (at least, it was quiet in February) that removes the need for repetition.

(Sandwich eaters can avoid this section of the walk altogether, eating their lunch in Steventon churchyard and reducing the walk length to 13.8km/8.6 miles)

Tea options for this walk have also taken a turn for the better with a very pleasant revamp of the White Hart Hotel in Overton, which now makes a nice tea stop, serving tea in pots, and with an outside deck at the rear. The Overton Gallery also has a small tea room if you can get there before it closes at 5pm. In addition, Overton has a convenience store but I am far from suggesting that you smuggle a packet of biscuits into the White Hart - perish the thought!

Otherwise this is a pleasant walk over high rolling downs and for Jane Austen fans it has the added attraction that it passes through the landscape she knew as a child. Several places she would have known are passed during the walk, including the site of the putative romantic fling that formed the subject of the the film Becoming Jane, a possible model for the Bennet's house in Pride and Prejudice, the church her father was vicar of, and the site of her childhood house, now long ago demolished, alas.

Trains back from Overton go at 20 past the hour. Allow 20 minutes to get from the village to the stationand don't miscalculate as there is nothing to do in the vicinity of the station if you miss a train

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

With many SWC regulars walking in the Highlands of Bonnie Scotland, just n=7 on this walk with a w=brief_morning_shower_but_continual_drizzle_after_lunch.
Nevertheless stunning scenery with swathes of fresh mown meadows and stunning architecture.
Most of the group visited Deane House where our elected narrator told us of it's history and association with Jane Austin. Then onwards to Steventon Church and Manor passing the field where the house where Jane Austin spent her childhood stood. Our diligent narrator produced a sketch of this home for us to imagine how it looked in days gone by.
Then on to lunch at the Fox where a hare departed shortly. The remaining six enjoyed lunch or refreshments before heading back to Overton with five taking tea in the delightful café at the rear of the Overton Gallery. A super walk despite being a dreary day.

Unknown said...

Crowhurst - Battle. Just 3 of us started at Crowhurst with David catching up in Westfield making four. Two of us rushed ahead at the end to catch the cup final. Apologies for not saying goodbye to the other half of the group. Great walk apart from an excess of nettles at one point.