Monday January 15, 2007

A sunny Sunday walk around Holyport

On a very very sunny but colder day we ventured out to Holyport to do a three and a half mile walk around the village. We started at the War Memorial and past the Belgian Arms pub on our right. All along this road were houses and cottages all different most with very pretty names. One was new but built with exposed timbers and red bricks by the company that re-erected Shakespears's Globe theatre. Another had on its gate an old fashioned sign warning people to close the gate otherwise be faced with a fine of forty shillings. We turned right over a stile and headed towards Stroud Farm. Here the path took a diversion around the buildings of the farm and past its pond and then after crossing one of many railway sleeper bridges we would cross on this walk we then turned right and met Coningsby Lane. The instructions were wrong here and we turned left as per the map and soon met Fifield Road where there was a pretty wooden chapel opposite us. A little further on we expected to find a pub but this was no longer there - replaced by three large houses. We then turned off this road and went along a path which many years ago was overgrown but had then been cleared the the local ramblers and re-opened. In a garden on our right was a railway track and according to the walk book we should see a <0-4-0 Saddle Tank Engine but this like the pub was not to be seen.

We had reached the mid point of the walk and started our journey back by a series of fields and any of these were partially flooded. we met and followed along Coningsby Lane for a short distance before turning left into Green Lane and leaving that by a stile to go along a series of large fields to meet Gays Lane. Looking behind us we got a great view.

Going along Gays Lane we past to the right of John Gays House and nearby were a small number of very large handsome houses. Soon we came out onto a road and after a walk beside a garden along an enclosed path we were back in Holyport. We had lunch at the Bridge House pub in nearby Paley St where I had a very good sausage baguette served by friendly staff. After this I spent an hour digging over another patch on the allotment.