Mottisfont

Following last week’s traumatic walk, we decided to be a bit more civilised and go for a bit of culture this week with a visit to the National Trust property and gardens at Mottisfont, near Romsey.

Before I start, I caught a piece on the BBC breakfast show a few days after our Whitchurch walk, which covered the RNLI practicing mud rescues at the coast. I think they need to come inland a bit, we’ve got plenty of mud here they can practice on. It appears what we need on our walks is a couple of able bodied men and an inflatable dinghy and we will never get stuck again.

On to today, the adventure started before we got there. All started so well until we saw the ‘Road closed ahead ‘ sign on the road we wanted to go down. Ignoring it (as you do) we carried on regardless, followed by a white van. About two miles down the lane we found the closed bit. Fortunately there was another road to the left just before the closure. Unfortunately that road led straight into a ford. My first thought, while pulling over to let the van go past, was that my husband had just spent hours cleaning the car. My second, while watching a few cars negotiate the ford, which was right on a junction, was nope I’m not brave enough to go for it.

So around we turned to drive back along the lane until we found a diversion sign.

We eventually got to Mottisfont only to find the main carpark full and the overflow filling fast. We wondered if there was an event or something on, but no it is obviously what retired people do for a day out. Now while, technically, we fall into the retired category, we do not consider ourselves as the retiring type.

Not being used to quite so many people on our walks, we set off through the gardens towards the house.

A Priory was founded at Mottisfont in 1201. It became a subsidiary of Westminster Abbey when Henry VII became king. However, in 1536, the dissolution of the monasteries saw Mottisfont Priory and its estate gifted to Henry VIII’s Lord Chamberlain, Lord Sandys who transformed it into a grand house. There is some evidence of the old Priory, including a bit of wall in the garden.

After a quick look around the house, we set off again through the garden, heading towards the path along the river Test. We found some interesting statues and a little pet cemetery (memories of reading the Stephen King novel crept into my head – I wouldn’t fancy visiting that at night).

We had a lovely little stroll along the river and into the field beyond. There were quite a few footpath options but we were getting hungry, so turned back.

There are two café options in the house, both of which were rammed, with large queues just to get in.

Heading to the Rose garden we found a little kiosk which, unfortunately, had run out of most things so we were forced to have a slice of cake with our cup of tea. Even though we hadn’t walked as far as usual, it was so nice to sit down for a while.

Our last stop was the Rose garden , a walled garden which is home to the National Collection of Pre-1900 Shrub Roses. Well, we had definitely left the best part for last, it was truly beautiful.

Back at the car we discovered we had actually walked for three miles. No wonder we were tired.

The journey home was slightly less exciting, although we did end up on a very narrow lane with grass growing in the middle of the road and had a bit of a tight squeeze between a flatbed van and a bollard at some roadworks. Hopefully I didn’t annoy the other drivers behind me too much, or the van driver who I made move over for me.

A lovely day out and the beautiful roses made the visit worthwhile. My main takeaways were don’t ignore road closed signs, it’s perfectly ok to have cake for lunch (although I’ll admit I went home and had peanut butter on toast) and next time we’ll take a picnic, just in case.

Looking forward to some peace and solitude next week, possibly with a bit of mud for good measure.