Ebble Valley Wanderings

Of all the valleys that radiate out from Salisbury, the Ebble must be the most peaceful and unspoilt. Time seems to have passed by the valley and its string of tranquil villages, for it's free from busy main roads and their associated developments. This is particularly true in the upper Ebble Valley close to Cranborne Chase and the Dorset border where the 13 mile (21km) long chalk stream rises. Here, tortuous narrow lanes link isolated farmsteads, hamlets and villages, hidden and protected in the folds of the steeply rising chalk hills.

Ebbesbourne Wake nestles beside the intermittently flowing Ebble stream at the base of the downs, oblivious to 21st-century hustle and bustle. A collection of neat thatched cottages congregate around the 15th-century church, which stands on a hill, and close to the gem of a simple and unspoilt village inn - the Horseshoe.

Norrington Manor and the nearby village of Alvediston date back to medieval times when they were associated with one of the oldest families in England, the Gawens, said to be descended from the legendary knight Sir Gawain of King Arthur's Round Table. The original manor house was built in the time of Richard II and the Gawens completed the building after 1377. Much of the striking 14th-century stone building still stands with some 17th-century additions.

Memorials to the Gawen family, and the Wyndham family who succeeded them at Norrington after 450 years, can be seen in St Mary's Church, which was rebuilt in 1866 and overlooks peaceful water-meadows. Pride of place at the front of the churchyard is the tomb of Sir Anthony Eden (1897-1977), Earl of Avon and Prime Minister between 1955 and 1957. He lived in the brick-built 18th-century manor house close to the church.

For hundreds, even thousands of years, this hilltop track, known as the Herepath or the Salisbury Way, was one of main highways linking Salisbury to the west, especially for pilgrims travelling to the abbeys at Wilton and Shaftesbury. In later years the route was used by horse-drawn coaches en route from London to Exeter, until improved road-making techniques in the 19th century made it possible for a new road to be built in the Nadder Valley. Its importance in the earliest of days can be traced through the presence of earthworks, barrows, tumuli and a little way east, the Iron-Age settlement of Chiselbury Camp. It is now a deserted grassy track providing a fine panorama to the north across the broad, undulating and wooded Nadder Valley, and south down steep dry valleys into the narrow Ebble Valley to lofty chalk downland beyond.

While you're there

Take a leisurely drive through the delightful Ebble Valley. Begin at Berwick St James and head east through Ebbesbourne Wake to Fifield Bavant and visit St Martin's Church, one of England's smallest churches measuring 35ft (10.6m) long and 15ft (4.5m) wide. In Broad Chalke, the largest village in the valley, you will see some fine manor houses, notably Reddish House where the photographer and designer Sir Cecil Beaton lived until his death in 1980. He is buried in the churchyard.

Where to eat and drink

Time your walk to coincide with opening times at the Horseshoe in Ebbesbourne Wake. This unspoilt village inn offers ale from the cask and home-cooked food, notably pies, stews, local game and ploughman's lunches, and a garden. If you can't wait, divert to the Crown Inn, a free house in Alvediston.