Alton Tourist Guide Mid Hants Railway East Hampshire

Alton Tourist Information

Alton today is a small market town with a good selection of shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants. The High Street is lined with many Georgian buildings which belies is more ancient history. Alton has been well established since Saxon times and a seventh cemetery was unearthed here. During excavations the intricately decorated Alton Buckle was discovered in a warrior's grave along with a shield, sword and spear head. The buckle is held at the Curtis Museum in the town and is considered to be the finest example of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship in Hampshire.

The Curtis Museum also a Roman enamelled cup discovered at Selbourne and mentioned in Gilbert White's Natural History of Selbourne. The museum's collection is considered to be one of the best in the county and includes a whole host of exhibits covering a 10 million year history from prehistoric tools to the Battle of Alton in 1693. There is also the Gallery of Childhood with an array of childhood toys from the 18th century.

The museum is open Tues-Sat 10am-5pm. Admission is free. Curtis Museum, High Street, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1BA. Tel: 0845 603 5635.

We've all heard of Sweet Fanny Adams, but the actual Fanny Adams is buried in the cemetery at Alton. She was murdered in 1867 at the age of eight by a local solicitor's clerk who was one of the last man to be executed in Winchester. Her dismembered body was found in a hop field near the town and the reporting of the event stirred up a lot of public concern, given her age, innocence and horrendous end. How her name became more widely used is apparently as this event coincided with the introduction of tinned meat rations for the Navy. The sailors didn't like the tinned meat so in typical black humour would say that they contained the remains of Sweet Fanny Adams or Sweet FA which has come to be used for sweet nothing.

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The Watercress Line - Mid Hants Railway

Alton is on the main Network Rail south west line. Alongside the regular trains that run through the county is The Watercress Line - a restored steam railway that runs for ten miles between Alton and Alresford. It runs from Platform 3 at Alton. Other stations are at Ropley and Medstead & Four Marks stations.

The station platform has been restored to how it would have looked in the nineteenth century. All guards and engine drivers don clothing evocative of that time too. There are several steam engines operating regular services between the stations all year round. The Watercress Line has featured in several television productions including Primeval and Midsomer Murders.

Special theme days include Santa Specials at Christmas and the popular Wizard Week around Halloween. For real ale fans what better way of seeing some of the Hampshire countryside than aboard a traditional steam train. The Real Ale Train "the RAT train" runs in the evenings and takes two round trips along the Watercress Line. Guest ales are usually from local Hampshire breweries. One of the traditional industries in Alton was brewing and fields of hops used to surround the town. If you fancy something a bit more upmarket try the Luxury Dining Trains that run at weekends or for special occasions. For the kids there's a twice yearly Day Out with Thomas. Thomas the Tank Engine is available for brake van rides at Easter and August and there's a whole host of events for a whole day out all included in the one ticket price.

Check the links right for up-to-date information on services, timetables and special events. The Watercress Line, The Railway Station, Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9JG. Tel: 01962 733810. Fax: 01962 735448. Email: information@watercressline.co.uk

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East Hampshire Countryside

To the south of Alton the Hampshire countryside stretches for miles. The area is known as the Wealden Greensands and is typified by the vast woodlands on high chalk escarpments or hangers as they're known locally, and the heathlands that stretch across the border into Surrey. The majority of the countryside here lies within the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The chalk downlands in this area are also part of the South Downs that stretch into Surrey.

Walking and cycling is the best way to explore the East Hampshire countryside. There's a handy leaflet detailing a 22 mile cycle route through the East Hampshire AONB available from the Hampshire Council website, link right. It starts in Petersfield and takes you round the majority of the East Hampshire countryside including Butser Hill, one of the highest points in Hampshire, from which you can get some fantastic views of the surrounding woodlands and countryside and even to the coast at Portsmouth. Butser Hill is also a National Nature Reserve important for its large area of chalk grassland, heath and woodland. Over thirty species of butterfly have been identified from here including the Duke of Burgundy fritillary and the chalkhill blue. Not far near Charlton is Butser Ancient Farm which was set up in the 1970s as an archaeological research project into Iron Age farming techniques. The farm is open to visitors Easter-September Mon-Fri 10am-5pm.

Another cycle route from Alton is the Alton Off-Road Cycle Trail that starts from Chawton Park Wood south east of the town centre and takes you on a circular trail taking in Jane Austen's House Chawton, Gilbert White's House in Selborne and Hanger's Way long distance path. Check the links right for downloadable leaflets.

There are plenty of walking routes as the area is criss-crossed with public footpaths. Long distance routes crossing this part of Hampshire include the South Downs Way that starts in Eastbourne in Sussex and ends in Winchester. The trail runs for 160 miles along old drovers roads over the chalk downs and is open to walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

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St Swithun's Way

St Swithun's Way is another long distance trail from Winchester through the north Hampshire countryside to Farnham in Surrey.

It follows the pilgrimage route from Winchester to Canterbury in Kent. Pilgrims would travel to Winchester when it was the religious centre of the Saxon Kingdom of Wessx. St Swithun's shrine and Alfred the Great's tomb housed in Winchester Cathedral brought pilgrims from all over the country. However, when Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was killed in Canterbury Cathedral by Henry II's knights in 1170, his tomb became the focus of pilgrimages from all over Europe. Pilgrims frequently landed on the southern shores of England and made the pilgrimage to Canterbury by taking in Winchester on the way.

Today St Swithun's Way leaves from Winchester Cathedral through the Itchen Valley famous for its watercress production, west through Jane Austen country around Alton and Chawton where she lived and where you can visit her house, then the route follows the River Wey through to the attractive market town of Farnham in Surrey where you pick up the North Downs Way which continues on to Canterbury.

A Pilgrim's Way walker's pack is available from Hampshire County Council Information Centres, or contact tel: 0800 028 0888 (local) or 01962 870500 to find out your nearest stockist.

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