Late exploration

It seems a bit late to be exploring a new part of the area, when I'm about to move away from it. And it's also funny how these things happen - we were completely lacking in inspiration for somewhere to walk on Sunday, and resorted to looking at the TripAdvisor Top 10 New Forest pubs. Oddly, several weren't really in the Forest at all, and thus we ended up parking at the Rose and Thistle in Rockbourne for a most delightful loop.

Next to Damerham and Martin, Rockbourne is a beautiful little village in Cranborne Chase. Our route took us via the pretty church and patches of ancient woodland carpeted with the fresh green leaves of bluebells, across fields with wonderful views, connecting to the also-pretty church in Whitsbury. Needing to be back at the pub for lunch, we then walked through more ancient woodland and ancient trackways, with primroses and the odd wood anemone in flower, before returning to Rockbourne. It's a great place to walk as there are lots of short connecting paths, so you can make a route to sort your needs. And in a few weeks' time, it will be beautiful with the wildflowers. Walking back through Rockbourne along the road meant we could admire the small winterbourne up close. It doesn't flow during the summer, as groundwater levels in the chalk bedrock drop, but it flows long enough for the water crowfoot to flower. And in fact, it was already flowering - very early, but a joy to see it doing so well in the crystal-clear waters, when in other rivers it is declining.

Alas, the pub was fully booked, and the one in Whitsbury was also rammed. This is how we ended up in The Bat and Ball in Breamore, in the edge of the Avon Valley. Also rammed, they found us a tiny table for our lovely roast, giving us time to plan our afternoon. We had time for a quick walk, and as the sun was shining, we headed up to Castle Hill in Woodgreen. We've been here before - it has amazing views across the wide, flat River Avon floodplain, and given the enormous amount of rain we've had with the storms, it was looking rather soggy!

We walked through Godshill Enclosure listening to the spring birdsong, looping down and up to pass out of the enclosure and into some lovely ancient woodland, criss-crossed with streams. Walking along an old trackway, we had a great view down the valley to a herd of female fallow deer. We then followed the Avon Valley Path through part of the village before heading back to the car, admiring the sun shining through the clouds down onto the floodplain again. A lovely way to end the day.