St Swithun's Way Day 2: Alresford to Alton

Sunday, 28th August 2022

Distance: 25km

Time: 7h20min (6h10min walking time)

Average moving speed: 4km/h

Elevation gain: 355m

We returned to Alresford by car and set off from the centre.

It takes a while to get to the route south of town and then there is a bit of boring walk along A31. We did however find a solar farm. Who said it's always grey in England?

After Bishop's Sutton, it starts getting more interesting.

The Summer has been so dry that streams have dried up.

Passing alongside a fence I missed Charlie Chaplin. Jorge pointed it out and I jumped as I finally spotted it. It looks so real at first glance!

At the very picturesque village of Ropley we sat on a bench at St Peter's Church for lunch. Mass is ongoing and we can hear the chanting and sermon from our spot.

The bell tower and roof of the church look brand new. Searching online I found out that the church burned in 2014 and was rebuilt 2019-2022. So yes, brand new!

Farm fields. Back gardens and back walls of very good-looking houses. Tree lined pedestrian paths. Some tarmac.

We had been walking for a while and I was in need of rest. We found a spot with a view, had our Tesco-bought lunch and I had a nap.

At Chawton we stopped to visit Jane Austen's House.

This is the house were Jane Austen lived for the last 8 years of her life (1809-1817) and where she wrote, revised and had published all six of her globally beloved novels.

Kitchen

Jane practiced the piano each morning before breakfast.

The Drawing Room

After her morning piano practice, Jane would make the breakfast. This was one of her household duties, along with looking after the stores of tea, sugar and wine. Most food was brought in from the kitchen, but some things like tea and toast could be prepared here on the hob grate set into the fireplace. The wallpaper in this room is an accurate reproduction of a historic paper discovered in this room, dating to the time the Austens were living here.

The Dining Parlour

Seated by the window to write, Jane also had a good view of what was going on in the village.

Jane Austen's Bedroom

The closet used to contain a wash bowl and a chamber pot. The upper shelf is cut away for head room.

Bedroom Closet

A conservatory-style room at the back door.

The Chinese black lacquer worktable dates from the early 19th century and is believed to have belonged to Jane.

Worktable

Topaz crosses: these 2 crosses were given to Jane and Cassandra by their brother Charles in 1801.

Gold ring with turquoise: this ring belonged to Jane.

Jewellery

Jane embroidered this shawl for herself with satin stitch crosses.

Muslin shawl

This coverlet was made by Jane, her sister Cassandra and their mother. The design's left and right sides are identical, even in the placing of the small diamonds in the border. There are over 3000 diamonds in total, all hand stitched together.

Coverlet

Replica of a pelisse thought to have belonged to Jane, style of 1813-1815. A pelisse is an overdress or coat dress and would have been fitted closely to the figure. Jane was slim: the pelisse is a UK size 4-6 (currently) and it indicates Jane was 1.70 - 1.76m (5ft6 - 5ft8) tall.

Pelisse

The House is open for visits 10am-5pm and admission costs £12.

Across the road from the house there is a tea house called Cassandras Cup. We sat for a snack.

There are some nice-looking houses in Chawton.

Not a real cat.

From here onwards it is quite an urban area and a stretch to get to Alton. Alton is not really interesting.

Accommodation in Alton is scarce and it was fully booked. I must note that this is not an easy route to find accommodation for. 

We stayed at The White Hart in Holybourne. After arriving in Alton we kept walking. It was 2.5km from Alton's centre. The majority of restaurants were closed in Alton, even the fish & chips shop was closed. As we walked to Holybourne we couldn't see any more restaurants. The pub on the way did not serve food after 2pm. We were tired and did not want to return to Alton to have dinner.

Luckily The White Hart started serving food for dinner recently. We were so relieved! We had time to rest our legs, shower and have an early dinner.