Things to Do in New Alresford

Things to do in New Alresford: the Watercress Line, walking trails, attractions and family days out.

• Abbotstone Down Open chalk downland and old oak wood north of Old Alresford, with the remains of an Iron Age hill fort and wide countryside views.
• All Saints Church, Bighton Grade I listed village church with late 12th century arcades, a Purbeck marble font and a 1904 Comper screen.
• Alresford Alpacas Take a gentle guided walk with friendly alpacas in the countryside near Alresford.
• Alresford Millennium Trail A self-guided heritage walk linking footpaths and illustrated boards around the town.
• Alresford Museum A volunteer-run town museum in the Old Fire Station, home to an 1893 Merryweather steamer fire engine.
• Arbsystem Tree surgery and chainsaw training at Monkwood, near Alresford. NPTC and City & Guilds courses from chainsaw basics to aerial rescue and rigging.
• Arlebury Park The town's parkland and recreation ground, with open green space and sports pitches.
• Avington Trout Fishery Three crystal-clear lakes and a carrier of the River Itchen at Avington, stocked with home-reared rainbow and brown trout since the late 1960s.
• Bishop's Sutton & St Nicholas Church A Domesday village east of Alresford where the bishops of Winchester kept a palace, with a Grade I Norman church famed for its beakhead doorway.
• Bramdean & Bramdean Common A village strung along the A272 with a 12th-century church and a Civil War-era pub, plus the wooded common and its 1883 tin Church in the Wood.
• Broad Street & the Georgian town One of England's prettiest Georgian streets, lined with colour-washed houses and independent shops.
• Chalk stream fly fishing (Rivers Itchen & Arle) The Itchen is born just outside Alresford, where the Alre, Candover Brook and Cheriton Stream meet. Some of the most famous trout water in the world.
• Cheriton village & Battle of Cheriton (1644) site A classic Hampshire village with a Civil War battlefield and the source of the Itchen.
• Chilton Candover hidden Norman crypt A Norman crypt beneath a farmyard, all that survives of St Nicholas Church and a village cleared in 1582. Rediscovered in the 1920s.
• Cycling the Itchen valley lanes (NCN 23) National Cycle Route 23 runs through Alresford station, linking Winchester and the Itchen villages to the south with Basingstoke to the north.
• Hampshire Bushcraft Woodland bushcraft near Alresford: holiday camps for ages 5 to 12 at £45 a day, three-hour birthday parties, school groups and team days.
• Hinton Ampner House, Garden & Estate National Trust house rebuilt after a 1960 fire, with Ralph Dutton's celebrated 20th-century garden and 1,650 acres of downland walks.
• Holden Farm Camping & Cafe The Corbett family are guardians of Holden Farm and have been for over 100 years. Currently it is run by Charlie and Susie Corbett with their daughter Becca.
• Italian Opera Gala Italian Opera Gala presents live Italian opera performances featuring professional soprano, tenor and pianist, bringing beautiful opera and special musical evenings to audiences in Hampshire.
• Itchen Abbas & Itchen Stoke Two Itchen valley villages west of Alresford: a Chartres-style labyrinth church at Itchen Stoke, Water-Babies links and a riverside pub at Itchen Abbas.
• Micheldever Woods Ancient woodland famous for its spectacular carpets of bluebells in spring.
• Northington & The Grange lakes walk Walk to The Grange, England's great Greek Revival temple-house above its lake: a 4-mile circuit from the car park, or 9.5 miles from Alresford.
• Old Alresford Pond A medieval bishop's fishpond held back by the Great Weir, now a 30-hectare SSSI full of wildfowl. Best seen from the causeway and The Globe's garden.
• Ovington & the River Itchen A tiny Itchen valley village two miles west of Alresford, with a riverside ford, water meadow walks, a spired Victorian church and The Bush Inn.
• Raimes Vineyard & Tasting Barn RAIMES produces award-winning English sparkling wine from its Hampshire vineyard, with vineyard tours, tastings and a beautiful Tasting Barn near Alresford.
• Riverside walk along the Arle Alresford's favourite short walk: down Mill Hill to the clear River Arle, past wild watercress, the 13th-century Fulling Mill and the 1820s Eel House.
• Ropley village & Ropley Station topiary A leafy village and a Watercress Line station famous for its box topiary.
• South Downs Sourdough Day-long sourdough baking classes with Mark Horner at The Brick House, Cheriton. Take home two loaves and your own starter. Gift vouchers available.
• St John the Baptist Church New Alresford's Grade II* parish church, off West Street: a 14th-century tower, a Romanesque rood, eight bells and the graves of Napoleonic prisoners.
• St Swithun's Way A 34-mile pilgrim path from Winchester Cathedral to Farnham, following the old Pilgrims' Way. It skirts the south of Alresford past the watercress beds.
• Sutton Wood Studios Countryside recording, mixing and mastering studio on Sutton Wood Lane, run by producer Will Davies. Rock, folk and acoustic, with BBC Radio airplay.
• The Candover Valley The Candovers: three chalk-valley villages along the B3046 north of Alresford, with a lost Norman crypt, a community shop, vineyards and great pubs.
• The Eel House A rare 1820s eel trap astride the River Arle, restored by the Town Trust and opened free on a handful of days a year. Half a mile from The Dean.
• The Fulling Mill A thatched, timber-framed mill straddling the River Arle, on a site where cloth was fulled from the 13th century. Best seen from the riverside path.
• The Grange at Northington England's finest Greek Revival house, a temple front above a lake north of Alresford. English Heritage grounds, free to visit daily 10am to 4pm.
• The Watercress Line The Watercress Line is New Alresford's crown jewel, a heritage steam railway through ten miles of Hampshire countryside to Alton. 01962 733810.
• The Watercress Way A 27-mile waymarked circular route linking Alresford, Kings Worthy and Sutton Scotney along old railways, droves and three chalk rivers.
• Tichborne village & St Andrew's Church Estate village of the Tichborne family since the 12th century, home of the Tichborne Dole and a Grade I Saxo-Norman church with a rare Catholic chapel.
• Watercress beds & water meadows Where Alresford's watercress story began: spring-fed cress beds, old water meadows and quiet footpaths along the River Arle, rich in birdlife all year.
• Wayfarer's Walk Hampshire's 70-mile downland trail from Inkpen to Emsworth, passing right through Alresford by the Arle, the Fulling Mill and the parish church.
• Wield & the Candover lanes Two quiet downland villages north-east of Alresford, with a Grade I Norman church, a dog-friendly pub, a winery and lanes to the Candover valley.
• Wood Farm Equestrian Livery yard and equestrian centre at Bramdean with a 60x45m Jump4Joy arena, grass arenas, clinics and arena hire, run by BHSI coach Cheryl Bezants.