East Meon to Butser Hill

29th June 2009

Maps used: OS Explorers 119 and 120 + photocopier and sellotape!

This was a lovely walk. 3 1/2 hours exhilarating walking in beautiful warm sunshine with extensive views of Hampshire. 3 birds of prey, swifts and rabbits seen. Accompanied all the way up by the song of skylarks. Exercise for the legs and always something to look at. A fabulous day altogether.

The walk starts from East Meon, a charming example of a typical Hampshire village.

For the car park, take the right hand turn in front of the church set against the slope of Park Hill above the road, and follow the road round to the right past Ye Olde George Inn, a 15th century coaching house, and follow the signs for the car park. This is spacious and free.

The walk starts from the car park, heading south along a footpath past the community centre and steps left on to a park in front of houses. Continue through a small housing estate to a country road and turn right. Follow this road round (there's no pavement but it's quiet) to a wide signposted concrete track which rises between crop fields and passes to the left of farm buildings. The path continues round and then down through more crops to a crossroads. To the right is a track called Halnaker Lane; ahead and to the left is the South Downs Way. The path ahead comes eventually to Old Winchester Hill. The path left is that required on this route. It is a restricted by-way and like many such tracks is somewhat enclosed by hedges and trees. Being on the South Downs routes the path climbs steeply in places. Not recommended in wet weather as the path is chalky and I found that insect repellent is a good idea, particularly in hot weather.

Towards the top of this part of the route, the views begin to open out. To the left are views over Small Down and Wether Down towards Butser Hill and glimpses of the valley in which Petersfield sits. The views to the right are somewhat more open looking towards Old Winchester Hill and the Meon Valley behind and the spread of west Hampshire further over.

I was passed by two cyclists hurtling back down the way I was going up. The path isn't smooth. It's fairly rutted with a lot of loose stones.

Past the pylons and Wetherdown Barn the path drops slightly down to Mercury Park. This is quite interesting. There is some science facility here which I found difficult to ascertain whether it's still in use or not. The wire fences are topped by great rolls of razor wire and there's a security entrance but there was no one about. Unless it's part of the Sustainability Centre on the other side of the road, which is also interesting as this is the site of the South Downs Natural Burial Site.

The excellent thing about walking through Mercury Park is that there is a good wide pavement part of which goes down through pleasant trees past some very nice houses. At the triangle junction, the pavement gives out but the road is fairly quiet and at the next junction, Hyden Cross, there is a small grass area with a bench opposite a white cottage, which looks out over the countryside. Lovely place to stop for a break.

After a quick bite and some water, I crossed the busier road to the continuation of the South Downs Way directly ahead. This is a pleasant broad path which climbs gently up through trees with views of the countryside to the left and Hyden Wood (private woodland, unfortunately) to the right - a dense woodland that doesn't let much sunlight through and has a red-brown look to it.

As the views close to the left and open out to the right where the woodland ends (I could just see the white of the Science Station on Portsdown Hill far away south) the path comes up to the road which rises to Butser Hill (Limekiln Lane). The tarmac road goes on up to the Car Park (a fee is charged here - £1 for the day). There are picnic tables up by the information hut, and there are toilets, but no refreshments. (There is an information centre and cafeteria a short walk down Butser Hill at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. Car Parking at the country park is also £1 for the whole day)

Limekiln Lane continues as a restricted by-way just below the car park beyond a steel barrier with a "No Motor Vehicles" sign. The Lane is chalk and not recommended in wet weather. It is also rutted and fairly steep in places. There is a footpath along a bank above the main chalk path. After a while the way forks. The right fork descends precipitously down Rakes Bottom to the Nore. Left, Limekiln Lane continues, in the latter stages becoming earthy rather than chalk and later descends fairly steeply to Lethe House Farm where there is a sturdy gate between the path and the dog; a beautifully laid out dressage arena, and some rather fine horses. The gentleman who was watering the dressage arena was nice and called out "good afternoon".

The way now comes to a lane. My way turned left along to Cumber's Lane, which has a traffic regulation order and is blocked to traffic by a large concrete barrier. Walkers, riders and cyclists are still permitted but the path has been churned up by 4x4 vehicles and motorcycles which are no longer permitted to use the path, for obvious reasons. The path becomes a little more stable further on until a 5-way junction of TRO paths.

As I didn't know the area before I started, of course I couldn't know what kind of paths I might encounter. I chose to go immediately left past Greenway Copse. The path is firm but rather scraggy, the grass worn away and rather weedy. As the path passes the Copse there is an intriguing wrought-iron gate which seems to stand alone against the dense dark trees. The path eventually emerges on to a very narrow, very quiet lane between fields and outlying cottages of East Meon and overhung with trees.

Looking at my map, there was another route I might have taken from the 5-way junction to Frogmore, just outside East Meon. I might look at that another day.

It doesn't need to be all roadwork back to the car park. There is much to see that is pleasant and interesting in the village.

Coming along the road and over the river, there is a footbridge which goes back over the river to a footpath running in front of cottages and across a small green; past a tiny pasture with a couple of young, nervous bullocks in it and the back of the old Court House. There is a small gate at the top of the path, past tennis courts, and you emerge on to the main road from West Meon. Across the road is the beautiful All Saints Church with a wooden lychgate and a bus stop just beside that.

Back round past Ye Olde George Inn and to the car park once more.