"A Perfect Panorama of Beauty" - In the Frosty Footsteps of Flora Thompson

“...A perfect panorama of beauty. Forestmere Lake lies like a mirror in the woods directly beneath; to the south is the blue ridge of the South Downs; to the north the heathery heights of Hindhead.” (Flora Thompson: Guide to Liphook, Bramshott and Neighbourhood, 1925.)

Or in the soggy footsteps of Flora Thompson, more like, given the time of year. Flora Jane Thompson (1876-1947) was an English novelist and poet best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about a Victorian childhood in the Cotswolds, Lark Rise to Candleford. In 1916 she moved to Liphook with her husband, and in 1926 they bought a house, Woolmer Gate, which we'll see, next to the pub in which we'll have our first pub lunch of the season. The cosiness of the pub, its location in an area called the Holly Hills, the pine forests we'll walk through and perhaps some crisp, frosty weather will excite us for the festive season, while the views we'll enjoy, as Flora enthused, will inspire us.

The sights:

Weavers Down: Flora Thompson called Weavers Down 'Peverel Down'. In her Guide to Liphook, Bramshott and Neighbourhood of of 1925 she wrote that Peverel Down was the quote above, and she was also intrigued by the trackways over it, writing: “... some of them still in occasional use, but most of them overgrown and deserted.”  She imagined them in The Peverel Papers of 1922,  “...winding in and out to skirt the hills and the marshes, just as they were first trodden by the naked feet of primitive man.”

Longmoor Camp: Wikipedia reports that this "is a British Army camp...The main street of the Longmoor part of the camp is built on an ancient Roman road, the Chichester to Silchester Way....The combined camp and training area covers 1,783 hectares (4,410 acres) of wooded areas, heaths, wetlands and hard standings. Longmoor Camp and the training areas are still active, and maintained by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation. The shooting and tank ranges are generally open to the public.

Longmoor Military Railway: Wikipedia reports that this was "built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The vehicles and stock...were very much an assortment to give the maximum learning opportunity. Well over a thousand locomotives had associations with the railway, although many only through the need for storage. The same was true of the signalling at the various locations on the line...After the end of World War II, the collection also included captured enemy equipment...The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969". The railway was used as the location many films, including The Lady Vanishes (1938), Bhowani Junction (1956), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Runaway Railway (1965), The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966), The Magnificent Two (1967) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968). We'll follow much of the route of the railway back to Liss.

The route (please click on the link to see it at the Ordnance Survey website):

Dogs:

I welcome dogs on all my walks and this walk is highly 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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(Picture credits: Most pictures were taken by the leader in December 2023. The others are: The Deers Hut, Griggs Green: Photo © David960 (cc-by-sa/2.0); South of Weavers Down: Photo © easthantsxc (cc-by-sa/2.0). Folly Pond near Forest Mere: Photo © Dave Spicer (cc-by-sa/2.0).  All third party images are copyrighted but are licensed for reuse under Creative Commons CC-BY-SA 2.0 and are here attributed to their copyright holders.)