OS Pathfinder - 12

Bentley and the Hampshire Downs

May 16, 2025

by avatar @robertclarke64@wanderer.robertclarke.co.uk

East Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Easy

Not completed

Distance 15.25 km
Est. duration 02h 51m
Elevation Gain 217 m
Elevation Loss 216 m
Category Hiking

Description

Setting out from Bentley at the foot of the Hampshire Downs, this route explores the surprisingly remote countryside between the A31 and the M3. After meandering along the valley past Pax Hill, you climb steadily through a farmed landscape studded with woodlands. An appealing byway leads to the tiny

Route

Start

Start
51.18955, -0.88008
Turn left out of the car park and walk up Hole Lane (pathway on the left where the lane narrows). Keep ahead when Hole Lane bends off to the right, and continue for a few paces past the junction with Church Lane. Now turn left along the signposted footpath, continuing past the houses and through two gates to follow the left-hand hedge along the side of an open field. Pass through a gap in the hedge and keep ahead to a three-way signpost.
51.19228, -0.88822
Turn left, then right after 50 yards, and continue through a kissing-gate along a tree-shaded path to a wooden signpost. Turn left here down the drive to Pax Hill; then, after 140 yards, turn right over a signposted stile. Walk briefly beside the left-hand hedge, then keep ahead along the signposted path across the open field. Through a kissing-gate, cross the waymarked causeway straight ahead and keep forward at the next three-way signpost to follow the gravelled drive in front of Coldrey Farm. Keep ahead as the drive swings right, go through a waymarked kissing-gate and continue to a tarmac road. Turn right along the road; then, immediately before the picturesque Anchor Inn, turn left along the signposted footpath to follow the right-hand edge of an open field. Dodge left and right at the end of the field, cross a plank bridge, then turn left through a metal kissing-gate. Continue beside the ditch on your left, following its winding course across the field to meet a lane.
51.18163, -0.91255
Turn right along the lane, then right again at the T-junction in Upper Froyle. Walk past Blunden's Farm Cottage on your left as far as Rye Bridge, then turn left onto the signposted footpath that leads up a hedged track. Continue beside the left-hand hedge to a four-way signpost, then follow the winding green track through the shallow valley ahead. When the track bends sharp right, bear half right across the field, climbing gently and walking diagonally towards a hedge gap before continuing on the same heading across the next field. Pause near the right-hand corner of the woods at the far side of the field to admire the view behind you, then walk through the gap and across the next field to a three-way signpost.
51.19270, -0.93341
Bear left onto the wider track, and follow it until it bends away to the left. Keep ahead here, along the signposted path beside the right-hand field edge to a waymark post in the corner of Little Wood. Wind with the ongoing path, skirting the woods and bear left as you drop down to cross a green track before climbing again beside woodland on your right. Keep ahead past a waymark post at the corner of the woods, striking out across the field Liddenfield Copse towards the road that borders the conifers ahead. Turn left onto the road, pass a small pond, then fork right towards Long Sutton. Crest the short hill and drop down to the junction at Sutton Common.
51.20357, -0.94085
Turn right here onto the signposted byway; ignore all turnings and follow this charming track until it meets the lane at Well.
51.21177, -0.91207
Turn left into the village, just as far as the crossroads and the well that was given to the inhabitants by William Fullerton of Well Manor. If you fancy a break, turn left here for the short diversion to The Chequers. To continue the walk, turn right towards Dippenhall and follow the road for ½ mile (800m) to the next junction. Turn right, and continue until the road swings sharp left at the foot of the hill.
51.20627, -0.90069
Keep ahead here onto the byway and simply follow it until it matures into a metalled lane. Continue to a stile on your left, about 50 yards past the oast houses on the right.
51.19294, -0.90601
These distinctive buildings with their conical roofs would originally have been used for drying hops or malt, and reflect the long tradition of brewing in the Alton area. Turn right over the stile and walk diagonally across the field to a stile in the far corner. Cross a second stile a few paces farther on, then turn right to walk beside the hedge on your right to a plank bridge in the corner. Cross over and turn right, then go left in 40 yards on a narrow, overgrown path. Soon this opens out as a field-edge path, gently rising to jink left then right through a wide gap to continue along the right-hand edge of the next field to a stile. Continue as before, now with the buildings of Pax Hill for company on your right. At the end of the buildings, dodge right through a gap by a waymark post and turn left onto an enclosed path that soon bends right around the edge of the paddocks to rejoin your outward route.
51.19244, -0.88834
Turn left here, following the hedge on your right through two fields and two gates, then past the houses to reach a road. Turn right, and keep ahead down Hole Lane to return to your car.

15.25 km

Finish