Charm in Dollops around the Hampshire Wallops

Hampshire's hangers and heathlands have been well covered by us 'Lads, but this walk explores the least familiar but most extensive part of the county, the part where the chalk downs form a vast rolling plateau with only scattered woodlands and settlements. Three or perhaps four of those settlements are the chief reason for visiting the area and the prettiest of them, Nether Wallop, found TV fame as 'St Mary Mead' in the classic BBC Miss Marple series of the 1980s. It's actually quite easy to imagine such a pretty place being a hotbed of adultery, theft, deceit and murder. The walk happens on the last day of British Summer Time and so although it isn't long or hard, we'll get an extra hour in bed to recover.

The sights:

Over Wallop: The name 'Wallop' come from the Old English waella and hop, meaning 'the valley of springing water'. The Wallops are lined up along the Wallop Brook, a tributary of the River Test. Many good thatched cottages and cob walls with thatch or tile 'roofs'. St Peter's Church is C13 and C14 but restored (rebuilt) in 1865-7 and 1874 by JL Pearson, architect of Truro Cathedral and the west front of Bristol Cathedral. Townsend Manor is mid-C18. We'll visit The White Hart pub here on the way back.

Middle Wallop: Only notable as an airfield and the home of the Museum of Army Flying (we may see a Lynx, Gazelle or Apache helicopter overhead - I'll check the flight schedule).

Nether Wallop: Like Over Wallop, many thatched and timber-framed cottages along the Wallop Brook. St Andrew's Church is architecturally and historically varied and has C15 wall-paintings (notably of St George slaying the Dragon from 1430). Close to the bell tower of 1704 is a pyramidal mausoleum of 1760. Danemead House played Jane Marple's home in the BBC series from 1984 to 1992. The village is seen most extensively in the episodes The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, The Murder at the Vicarage and A Pocketful of Rye. If you're an ardent fan, check the filming locations in Nether Wallop at the Agatha Christie Wiki. Leopold Stokowski, the British-American conductor who featured and performed in Disney's Fantasia, lived in the village, dying there in 1977 at the age of 95.

Grateley: Surrounded, like all these villages, by ancient trackways and droveways. St Leonard's Church is C12 and C13 but heavily restored in 1851. Late Saxon font and excellent stained glass of The Stoning of St Stephen of the early C13, relocated from Salisbury Cathedral. 

The route:

We'll head west then south through the hamlet of Palestine, then cross Mount Carmel Road and use byways to get to Over Wallop. We'll partly follow Wallop Road/Station Road and partly follow footpaths between the Wallops heading south east to have lunch on Nether Wallop's village green. We'll then head back northwest to Over Wallop and its pub using different footpaths before leaving the Wallops and proceeding northeast along Park Drove and Georgia Lane before turning northwest to Grateley. We'll walk along Station Road back to the station.

Dogs:

I welcome dogs on all my walks and this walk is most suitable for them. It has a few fields with livestock, but is of moderate length. There will also be a few stiles and roads to negotiate. A dog must be obedient if it is off the lead. 

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(All pictures were taken by the leader, except for the image of Joan Hickson as Miss Marple which is from the BBC but seems to be in the public domain.)