So, a wet day, where to go? We decided to have a stooge around the lovely countryside around the Hampshire/Surrey border. “Lovely” is not really one of my words. But for this area it is particularly apt. It’s not “stunning” or “amazing”. It’s “lovely”, and very content to be that.
We drove around a network of very narrow roads, meeting a whole range of intense people coming the other way in 4x4s. When I say intense, I mean they bear a look that is borne of a sense of entitlement to drive down these lanes without people in black camper vans coming the other way. Needless to say it was me doing the tricky “up the hedge” manoeuvres – obviously a shiny Range Rover is not made for that sort of thing.
We had a lovely walk around the lovely small town of Odiham. It’s a picturesque market town, which is astonishing as it’s not far from Basingstoke.
The there’s a diverse range of historic buildings, the long main street featuring immaculately maintained Georgian buildings. All perfectly lovely. The back streets also have architectural interest, including the striking 13th century church of All Saints which sits on the site of an earlier Saxon church.
The town borders The Basingstoke Canal, built in the 1700s, which flows between Hampshire and Surrey and eventually links with the Rivers Wey and Thames. 32 miles of the canal have been for walkers, canoeists, anglers and naturalists. Interestingly we walked the towpath from Basingstoke to Odiham around 15 years ago. Sadly, The Angel, the pub in Odiham where we had a great egg and chips is a hostelry no longer. It’s perfectly lovely house.