The Sands
A number of paths radiate from the top of Northbrook. The one to take heads almost perfectly due North. On a clear night, the pole star is directly over the route. During the day, the path is easily recognised since it has a tarmac surface. This was put in when St Barnabas School opened. Ploughing has done some damage to this surface. Continue due North as you pass the back gate of the school on the right. Today, this field, belonging to Clem Bowyer, is grassy. In the past, it has grown cereal crops and been a tree nursery. The end of this path curves to the East a little, and actually goes through Clem's lawn. The exit onto Drove Lane is protected with an anti-bike zigzag structure. (250m)
You arrive on Drove Lane more or less at the top of the metalled section. The Elisha Field, with cricket facilities and a play area are opposite. Turn left to head up the hill in a North Westerly direction. On the right hand side you pass Clem's yard. he runs an agricultural contracting business. On the left is Homestead Farm, owned by Gerald Weston. At present it seems he commutes between this house and Diamonds, a little further up on the right. It seems he and his wife spend their days at the farm but return to sleep at Diamonds. Just before Diamonds, the Millers live at Sheephouse Ground. They converted two cottages into one large house. Beyond Diamonds is the home of the Spencers. I am not sure if they still keep goats. Also, you can keep a nose open for the pigs in the unit on the left. Disease precautions operate here, so do not enter the piggery.
Beyond these houses the quality of the track deteriorates. There has been much rain recently and it is wet and slippery with deep puddles. In dry seasons the surface is like a sandy beach. It is OK for walking but cycling in the loose sand can be very difficult. As you go over the brow of the hill, you pass fields which belong to the Tow family on the left. The Tows keep horses and you can expect to see or hear them.
Drove Lane ends just as the downward hill starts. There is a crossroads with the so called Kings Road, always known locally as The Sands Road. The house on the corner has a Victorian post box built into it. A number of these antiquities exist along The Sands Road suggesting that it was a much more important thoroughfare 100 years ago. (500m)
Our route is to continue in a more Northerly direction along the fourth point of the crossroads, down Parham Lane. In fact, this point is really a five way cross, since a direct path from the top of Northbrook joins here as well. Parham Lane is more nearly continuous with this path rather than Drove Lane. Only The Sands Road has a metalled surface in this area.
Parham Lane rapidly sinks between cliffs - a typical sandstone feature. At first, it is residential. Many houses in the Lavington area are off the main roads. I don't know of any which are not accessible by car, but walkers will certainly see more. Parham Nurseries are on the right. You can buy plants here if they happen to be open. Today, there was an opportunity to stroke a couple of young Angora goats. On the left, the Semple family also grow plants. Note the cacti which grow in the greenhouse. Weathertop Farm is on the left, and soon after that we leave the lane for a path heading more or less East. (500m)
The gate on the right leads to a raised way between cultivated fields. We are now into Easterton. On our walk today, two young men flew a very swish kite on the right of the path. This route also goes across a lawn. There seems to have been an attempt to use a more southerly route but in my experience this is virtually always waterlogged. So we crossed the lawn and got a cheery wave from the householder. Over the trees to the East we spotted a bird of prey. I wish I were more of an expert. It was bigger than a kestrel but not buzzard sized. Perhaps a sparrowhawk?
After this house, the path continues in a South Easterly direction past the delightfully named Twentylands, home of the Duffield family. Beware of their attractive holly hedge! Soon, The Sands Road is reached again at another crossroads. (275m)
Take the left turn - a recently surfaced way. I suppose this smooth tarmac is an improvement on the ruts and puddles, but it seems less rural in this small holding area. Free range ducks, geese and chickens can be seen in the fields and gardens on the left. Pigmy goats are tethered out on the verges. Where a road forks to the left, we take the path over the stile to the right. In effect, we have another crossways. (150m)
This is a genuine footpath, heading South East, through rather scrubby fields which are often grazed by sheep. At one time, much of the path was separate from the field, in its own 3 foot way. The fence is now derelict and walkers just go along the edge of the field. There are good views of the chalk downland of Salisbury Plain from here. Perhaps not surprisingly, this path leads us back to The Sands Road again at yet another crossways. (275m)
We will take the route straight across The Sands Road and still head South East. A short detour (20m) to the right would bring you to the top of Oak Lane and another Victorian post box. Our route is heading towards Samuel Moore's jam factory, down the hill in Easterton. On the right is the Jones small holding - a rear view. The Jones collect agricultural relics. Today we saw a threshing machine and collections of implements. Their field was grazed by a large white goat. A squirrel was active here, even on January the second. This is another sunken lane. The top of the bank on the left has recently been refenced. Flimsy wire netting, some 4 feet high is topped with a couple of strands of barbed wire. I don't know who owns the area at the top, but they have made a mistake. Firstly, it looks ugly and aggressive. Secondly, the flimsy chicken wire is not going to stop the badgers for long. Badgers sets abound on the sunken sandstone lanes all round the Lavingtons.
As we pass the jam factory, high up on the left, there is, inevitably, some industrial rubbish about. There is also the enlarged cottage where Samuel Moore lived and where he first made jam. Immediately past the cottage, a surfaced path turns right. A short walk ahead on to The Sands Road could lead you to the stream, pump and Kiddle's shop in the centre of Easterton. Our route takes us on the path. (500m)
This path heads South West. This was another path surfaced as a part of the St Barnabas School scheme. People from Easterton were enabled to walk to the school on a straight, short and mud-free route. The path climbs quite steeply and affords views to the left, over Halstead Farm to the Kiddle's shop. The old painted signs - Waltons - still show up clearly on the brick work On the right, there is the Haywards Place Estate but the field, hedge and trees on the left provide a haven for birds. In one small ash tree today we saw a cole tit and a robin, whilst a group of starlings chattered down at us from the higher branches.
Many of the gardens in Haywards Place are well kept. Vegetable plots are dug, ready for the spring sowing. Some of the area, though, has the rather depressed look of many similar estates, with beat up old cars littering the scene.
As we approach Oak Lane, a garden on the right is something of a gnomery. It all looks rather untidy today, but the messages, scratched onto cement blocks can still raise a bit of a smile. We cross straight over Oak Lane by going down some steps and back up the other side. (250m)
A small play area is alongside the path on the right and on the left, a large brick wall hides the garden of the farmhouse. Once passed these, we are back into open country as the fenced and tarmac path leads between arable fields. Again, there are excellent views of the downs to the left. The field on the right often seems to grow potatoes. It has a regular damp patch in it. Today, it is sodden. An unseen boundary brings us back into Market Lavington. Concrete steps lead down to Drove Lane. (225m)
We, however, continue in a straight line, still heading South West. We have now passed St Barnabas School, so this path is not surfaced. On the right, the cemetery has a neatly clipped hawthorn hedge and behind it is a small paddock which sometimes keeps a donkey or a couple of ponies. On the left side there is still a good view of the downs above Market Lavington. A double stile brings us into an arable field and a path junction. The left hand route continues more or less straight down to Northbrook. We take the right hand route which heads off West towards the top of Northbrook. (120m)
In the very wet conditions, the mud clings to foot-wear here. The small estate of Northbrook Close is ahead, whist on the right, there is the Lavington football field. There is no match today. We would have heard the shouting of 22 team captains (plus more on the touch line) back in Easterton. At the edge of the field, a stile leads to what looks like a vertical precipice down to Northbrook. Once the stile is negotiated, though, the path, through a thick hedge, is steep but quite manageable. Once through the hedge we are on Northbrook. A turn to the right leads us back to the top where we started our walk. (120m)