Walk the Hangers Way

This is actually a 21-mile (33 km) walking route, which starts in the town of Alton, follows the steep, densely wooded East Hampshire Hangers to the market town of Petersfield – and finishes at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. But fear not: you don’t have to tackle it all in one go.

If you’re after more of a gentle ramble than a full-on hike, the good news is that it can be divided up into bite-size sections of around two and four miles. And if you’re a history buff, you’ll love it. Whichever section you go for there are various fascinating stop-offs: like the 15th-century effigy of Chaucer’s wife in East Worldham, the charming village of Selborne (once home to Gilbert White, the famous naturalist) and Selbourne Priory, which was founded in 1233. Not only that but there are several Bronze- and Iron-Age burial mounds and settlement sites, along with the ghost of a monk – said to haunt the Oakhanger stream…

One thing you definitely shouldn’t miss, if you end up climbing Shoulder of Mutton Hill is the Poet’s Stone – the monument dedicated to the memory of local poet Edward Thomas, who was killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917. With all that to explore, maybe you will end up doing the whole lot in one go...