Spearywell Wood to Mottisfont

29 September 2008

Distance: 3 1/2 miles
Parking: National Trust Car Park - Spearywell Wood
Map: Explorer 131 - Romsey, Andover & Test Valley
Map ref for car park: SU316278

This is another lovely walk in the Test Valley through woodland, past pretty cottages and lovely river views. There is a railway to pass under and to cross - with care! The walk takes in the village of Mottisfont where there is an Abbey and Gardens. The Mottisfont Estate is run by the National Trust.

• To start the walk, pass beside the barrier at the back of the car park into the woods on a good track. The path passes through old woodland and then down through conifer trees. Bracken rises up the slope to the left, while the ground to the right is carpeted in green. There is a strange feel to this part of the woodland, the feeling that people once dwelt here.

• The path comes to a grassy T-junction. Turn left here by a way marker stone and head uphill. Where another path crosses at the top, bear right and follow the way round to a staggered junction. Here is a short-cut sign to Mottisfont Abbey. Go left, then right on to a track down through woodland, past a T junction which goes over a plank bridge into a fields and continue to a junction and turn left. Where the paths cross ahead there is a gap in the hedge, left, into a field; ahead the way continues into another field with a missing gate; to the right is a wide way, which at the time of walking this route, was cleared back hedges and a grass path running down the left side of a wide dirt track rutted with tractor treads. Go right along the grass path to the trees. There is a stile which you can climb over if you feel like it, but the path also skirts around it.

• The footpath follows a fence, right, for some distance. There is a view to the right over a large field and trees to a hill in the distance. In the foreground, the spire of a church can be seen rising just above the tree tops. Keep following the path round, bearing right past a muddy stream, until the way passes under the railway and comes to a bridge over the river Dun. There are pretty views both ways along the river from the bridge; however, the route turns left through a metal kissing gate just before the bridge.

• Follow the path through a meadow and rough, marshy pasture. There are two plank bridges which manage to miss the mud at either end in both cases, however it only means a short jump to the planks. Keep along the path to a double stile by oak trees. Turn right along the field edge to another stile and continue through a copse. The path passes a spring to the right and a little further on is a beautiful little cottage on the left, tucked in the trees and totally isolated. Past the cottage, the path continues through a gate and along the left-hand edge of a field, past an electricity junction and through a gate beyond which is the railway. To the right, Dunbridge Station is visible. Take note of the warning signs beside the gate. Stop, listen and look for trains coming before crossing the planks to the opposite white gate. Follow the path beyond this gate between hedges and past a defunct stile to the B3084 - a road sign opposite reads "Hat Hill Mottisfont".

• Cross the road to the gate and follow the path up through cow pasture to another gate at the top of the field. The path continues through arable land. Towards the further end of this field is a low fence bearing a sign that the path has been diverted to avoid an old oak tree invaluable for conservation. The tree is large, quite beautiful and almost symmetrical from this angle. Continue along the path, through the fence and turn right along the lane beyond. This is Hat Lane, now closed to motorised traffic, and comes down past a grey phone box on to the main road through Mottisfont village. To visit the Abbey and Gardens, turn right here past the 12th Century St Andrews Church on the right and pretty Hazel Cottage on the left.

• To continue the walk, turn left with the pub and then the wall of the Abbey grounds on the right. At the road junction turn left up Bengers Lane and take the path right which goes across a field (be careful not to turn up the driveway of a house which is the first path on the right!). Pass between two oak trees and through a windbreak of trees over a plank bridge, and across another field to a gate in the far corner. Pass around the gate and out on to the road which, turning right, comes back to the car park. There is a grass verge on the left side of the road past the cottages. However, I should mention that I was subjected to verbal canine abuse from one of the gardens, which made me jump! The verge eventually ends and the car park is just a few yards ahead.