Hambledon and Hydon's Ball

After walking down a leafy, sunken, sandy path and passing a pumping station, the route starts to climb gently through a wood of tall Scots pines, then more steeply to reach the top of Hydon's Ball. At the summit, a viewpoint on National Trust property, is a large stone seat commemorating a principal founder of the trust, Octavia Hill, who died in 1912. From here you glimpse through the trees the open countryside beyond (though in summer the fine views from the top are partly obscured by trees on this thickly wooded hill). It is a walk especially suitable early in the year when the trees are bare, and in frosty weather the mainly sandy paths and bridleways are less likely to be muddy.

Near the end of the walk, almost level with St Peter's churchyard, there is an ancient limekiln. Until fairly recent times, lime produced from chalk was the universal agricultural fertiliser. The well-preserved Hambledon Kiln, resembling a small tunnel in a brick wall, was in use until the end of the 19th century.

The small hillside church of St Peter was rebuilt in 1840, and inside little remains of the earlier church. However, the churchyard must not be missed, featuring two tremendous yew trees — one straight tree about 18 feet round, and a mighty 30 feet in circumference whose eerie hollow can hold as many as 12 people. Local legend says that if you walk around the inside of this tree 13 times widdershins (anti-clockwise), a witch will appear!

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.