Hartley Wintney and Elvetham

Today, golf is a relatively genteel pastime but, as you walk out across Hartley Wintney golf course, spare a thought for those who came here before you. For this was the site of the early 19th-century workhouse that served Hartley Wintney and a dozen of the surrounding parishes. Opened in the spring of 1835, the building was enlarged the following year and stood here until a new workhouse was constructed at nearby Winchfield in 1871.

Yet just half a mile (800m) from the grinding poverty of the old workhouse stands a building of a different order. From the 15th century, Elvetham Hall was home to the family of Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII. Henry visited the house at least twice in the 1530s and, in 1591, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, entertained Queen Elizabeth I here. Her entourage stayed in specially built pavilions close to the house and the queen planted an oak tree to commemorate her visit.

After Edward died, his grandson William Seymour, the Marquis of Hertford and Duke of Somerset, inherited the Elvetham Estate. William sold the house in 1649 and, after a complex series of marriages, the property passed into the hands of the Gough-Calthorpe family. The great building stood for another two centuries until it was destroyed by a fire in 1840.

A Victorian phoenix

Enter Frederick Gough, the 4th Baron Calthorpe. He commissioned Samuel Teulon to design the magnificent Victorian Gothic mansion and stables block that rose from the ashes of the old house in 1860. Teulon’s building is now home to the sumptuous Elvetham Hotel and you’ll have glimpses of the mansion’s spectacular roofline soon after leaving the golf course. The hotel stands in 35 acres (14ha) of grounds, with formal gardens, croquet lawn and a broad yew-tree walk. It’s said to have the largest magnolia soulangiana in England, and Queen Elizabeth’s oak tree, which is now over 32ft (9.8m) in circumference, still stands in the hotel grounds.

Leave the car park by the vehicle exit, walk up Walpole Gardens and turn left along Hartford Road. Turn left at the T-junction, cross the A30, then turn left and right onto the narrow surfaced path to the church of St John the Evangelist. Turn left, cross the A323 at the lights and walk across the green past The Cricketers pub and keep straight on.

Turn right up Park Corner Road passing the pond on your right, then turn left over a squeeze stile and turn right onto the signposted path around the edge of golf course. Pass the second tee and follow the fairway until reaching a cross tracks of paths, turn right, signed to Elvetham. Walk past the third tee and veer right after a small pond onto a gravel path. Pass a reed-fringed pond and the seventh tee on your left and keep ahead over the stile out of the golf course.

Walk along the right-hand edge of the field, then go through the gap in the far corner and continue to cross over the footbridge, fronted by a kissing gate, and then along the enclosed path between the stream and a fence to a stile. Turn left along the green lane to a kissing gate and keep ahead across the open field towards the red tiled roof of Arlots Farmhouse, and leave the field via a stile beside the right-hand gate in the far hedge.

Turn left along Elvetham Lane to the A30 at Hartfordbridge. Cross the main road with care and keep ahead up the road until it bends sharply to the right.

Keep ahead through the kissing gate and follow the waymarked route through the paddocks to a pair of gates and a plank bridge. Continue through a kissing gate and along the enclosed path, then go through another kissing gate and keep ahead across the grassy clearing to reach a footbridge that crosses over the River Hart.

Cross over, turn left and follow the woodland path over a bridge. Walk alongside the river then bear right up the slope to a junction of paths under overhead power lines, turn left and cross three more plank bridges and walk alongside a stream. Cross two further bridges before climbing to a summit and a firm, wide track.

Turn left and, ignoring all turnings, keep left and drop down through the trees to a kissing gate. Keep ahead past the houses onto the narrow path that eventually leads out onto Hunts Common, opposite Hartley Wintney Golf Club. Turn right into the High Street, then right again to the car park.