© J A D Healey 2014
YOUTH HOSTELS
Tatty and I met punctually at 9 o'clock at the Grammar School and started along Old Shoreham Road. We went through Steyning, Pulborough and Storrington, and then had our lunch on top of the hill just before entering Petworth. At Midhurst we had some lemonade (it was a very hot day).
After leaving Petersfield, we approached some well wooded hills and walked up the long ascent of Stone Hill. It was beautifully cool in the shade. To our right, there was a deep ravine which we saw through the trees. When we reached the top we did not go down the other side for the country was undulating. At New Alresford, we turned north along by a large lake and through Old Alresford until we came to a signpost saying "Godsfield 3 miles". When we at last got "the old women" to show us our rooms and give us our supper, we wandered around and then returned to the common room where we discussed with the other three fellows the ghost of a hermit who was bricked up alive in one of the walls of the room which now forms the men's quarters. They were all sleeping near the window so that they could jump out if the ghost came; they also wondered whether, if they locked their door, it would prevent the ghost getting in, or whether the ghost would be able to get in and that would prevent it getting out. It was quite dark, so we had to borrow an oil lamp to find our way upstairs and light our candle (there were no matches).
We breakfasted on a tin of grapefruit and a pint of milk which came from the dairy immediately after leaving the machine to cool it. We started out at about 9 o'clock and went back to New Alresford and then west along the Winchester Road until we found we were wrong, so went down to the village of Ovington from where we got instructions for getting to our right road. We had to go along a pleasant footpath and then got out onto the road through Itchen Stoke, Itchen Abbas and Martyr Worthy (the names amused me). We then cut across by Worthy down onto the Andover Road.
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| Unlabelled Photograph |
After Andover we went straight to Devizes via Ludgershall. The countryside was quite hilly and on one road we found we were going exactly ten miles an hour. To our right, towards Marlborough, there was a white horse cut out of the chalk hills. Just before Upavon, on top of a hill there was a large aerodrome (R.A.F. I think). It was completely isolated and had a good number of tennis courts. At Devizes we saw the canal which had several locks on it. We continued on through Melksham towards Bath. Before we neared the Hostel, we were on a road which had trams going along it.
In the middle of Batheaston, there was a Y.H.A. arrow pointing upwards and, following this, we soon reached the Hostel. The warden was sitting just inside the door and we had to sign the book on our way in. The business-like way in which the whole thing was conducted was a great contrast to Godsfield. Our room looked out over the Bristol Avon in which there was good bathing. It was a beautiful view over the valley, but spoilt by the sound of traffic on the main road below the Hostel. During supper, the warden explained that the house had been built in 1760 on the site of an old Roman villa.
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| Youth Hostel above Batheaston |
| View from Youth Hostel over the valley |
A Mrs. Millar who once lived in it was very fond of poetry and tried to copy the ancient Romans. She had a temple to the goddess of poetry built in the grounds and every week she held a meeting in which a certain subject would be chosen and everyone had to write a poem which was later read out. Chapter XV of the Pickwick papers is a satire on this Mrs. Millar. In the actual room where we were having supper, a Roman vase coming from the site of a temple to the goddess of poetry was kept. The vase is now in one of the parks of Bath. For the rest of the evening we wandered about the grounds and then looked at leaflets about the Y.H.A., including their magazine "The Rucksack". At about 11 o'clock we went to bed (the warden was much too interested in his game of chess to remember that we should have been in bed by 10 o'clock.
As we hadn't bought any fruit the night before, we left before having any breakfast. When the Warden heard where we were going he gave us a card to give to Mr. and Mrs. Hobbs at the Street Hostel and also some advice about Cheddar. We were to be sure to come down the gorge and not go up it and coming down we were to go slowly so that we could appreciate it properly – he compared it with eating strawberries.
At Bath the Abbey was not open, as we were too early, but we went in the baths (after wandering nearly all the way round the town to find them). After leaving the city, we had a very long hill to ascend and then descend the other side.
At the bottom there was the very small village of Dunkerton and we stopped at the Post Office. It did not look as though it would sell anything, but when we got inside we found tinned fruit and bought a tin of pineapple. We asked the old lady to open it for us, which she was only too pleased to do; she also produced dishes and spoons for us to eat it with and wanted to take chairs out into her garden for us, but we managed quite well on the seat which was out there.
We continued on our way towards Wells, ascending the Mendips. A few miles before Wells, at Green Ore, we turned off the road and went towards Priddy, ascending most of the way. Soon we were following signposts to Cheddar and noticed that we were coming down a very pretty valley, not realising that we were in the Gorge. After a little while we had to stop at every corner of the winding road and gaze upwards. When we reached the bottom, we were disgusted with the modern entrance of Goughs caves, but went into a modern milk bar for a loganberry milk shake.
Continuing on, we reached Wells, where we went into the Cathedral. I was disappointed with the inside of the nave and side aisles. We went up the tower and had a really marvellous view all round. One side we looked down onto the Bishop's Palace, another over to Glastonbury Tor and another across to the Mendip Hills. After descending the dark, spiral staircase, we stood and watched the clock strike 4 o'clock.
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| Pepys Rock, Cheddar Gorge |
| Wells Cathedral, "Jack Blandiver" |
At Glastonbury we went into the abbey, but while we were wandering round it, it came onto rain and, as we had left our macs outside, we hurried round the rest of it.
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| Postcard, Glastonbury Abbey exterior |
We soon reached Street, which is only 4 miles from Glastonbury and obediently turned south down the Somerton Road. At the first cross-roads, we stopped, wondering whether they were "Marshall's Elm" cross-roads, but someone immediately asked us whether we wanted the Hostel and directed us to it. At the next cross-roads, we again hesitated, but the same thing happened and we quickly found "The Chalet". We were the only two who bought our supper there.
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| Postcard Glastonbury Abbey (Arches) |
In the evening, we wrote our postcards and then, until 11 o'clock we played 'tippit'. Our side seemed to have the halfpenny the most, but we were laughing the whole time as some of them were so amusing.
"The Chalet" is on the National Trust property at Ivythorne Hill and has a most beautiful view all round. Our window looked out onto Glastonbury Tor.
Early in the morning, there was a mist, but all the trees showed above it; later it covered the trees and only Glastonbury Tor showed above it. When we started, it soon cleared away and became very hot. We went down and then along the flat road by Sedge Moor. It did not become hilly again until just before Taunton. South of Taunton, we reached the Blackdown Hills; one very long ascent was near Staple Hill. After that it was mostly downhill, on the last part along the sides of the Otter, to Honiton. I was disappointed with Honiton; it did not contain much more than shops selling lace, cream, or pottery. We continued along by the Otter to Ottery St. Mary, which was a very old fashioned place, and a church which was quite large and complicated. There were some stocks in the churchyard.
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| Postcard Ottery St. March Church from the southeast |
We then followed the instructions of the Y.H.A. Handbook and continued along the Exmouth Road. When we reached West Hill there were Y.H.A. signposts directing us to Melverley. The Hostel is a new building; it has the door opening into the common room and, on each side, doors leading into the men's and women's quarters.
Most of us bought our supper at the Hostel. Tatty and I had a walk down the road and then back to the common room for a sing-song with the help of the piano and mouth-organs. When we went to bed at 11 o'clock we found that most of the girls were asleep.
In the morning we had our usual breakfast of tinned fruit and milk, but had the cream we had bought in Honiton with the fruit. We started by going back to Ottery St. Mary and then continued east (for we had started on our way home) along a very hilly road.
We soon ascended a very long and steep hill and, when we reached the top, found it was Chinaway Hill, with a gradient of 1 in 5. Continuing along the road which went over all the hills and not round them, we descended the hill (1 in 4½) into Lyme Regis, where we thought we had deserved a drink. We continued on, through Bridport and lunched on doughnuts by a stone which said that King Charles had escaped down the lane which was near.
Towards Dorchester, the road became flatter and we were able to make better progress until we came in sight of Maiden Castle. We went down to it and then I tried to get round it and into Dorchester, but we could not and had to turn back. Tatty has never forgiven me for this.
From Dorchester, we went as quickly as possible along the Bournemouth road to the village of Organford and arrived at Bere Farmhouse in the pouring rain. On the way we passed through the village of Tolpuddle, but did not have time to stop.
When we arrived, there were only two other fellows there, but another soon arrived and we all had supper together with the warden and his wife. After supper we had ping-pong; at the beginning, the Warden beat everyone, but then a proper tournament was arranged and, in the finals, 'Liverpool' beat 'Cheshire'. At about 10 o'clock another “Yostler” arrived and soon afterwards we went to bed, but still another one came later on.
When we started, it was still pouring with rain and so Tatty wanted to take the warden's advice and skip Swanage where there was nothing to see (???) and go through Bournemouth. This meant that we would miss the Isle of Purbeck completely and I was foolish enough to agree to it, so we went firstly to Poole, where we made a detour to see something of the harbour, as it had stopped raining by then. We continued along the road which was very attractive(?) with all its buses, cars and houses, to Bournemouth. It was less monotonous actually in the town as there was so much traffic. Tatty went all the way down the wrong way of a one way street, but did not get into trouble. We had our lunch in a park and then proceeded to Christchurch, where we went in the Priory.
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| Christchurch Priory, Norman Architecture |
| Christchurch Priory, Norman Tower |
We went south to see the sea and then continued on to Lymington and from thence over part of the New Forest (Beaulieu Heath) to Hatchet Pond, from where we dropped down to Beaulieu and went in the ruins of the Abbey. The Parish Church of Beaulieu was the refectory of the old abbey, but I was disappointed in it.
We had to return to Hatchet Pond and then go over what was mostly moorland, but it started to rain and there was a fair wind; we were soon very wet, so that it was not very pleasant. We passed through the village of Brockenhurst which is, I think, supposed to be rather picturesque, but we did not appreciate it as we wanted to get to the hostel, for we had heard that there was hot water supplied there. At the village of Burley we stopped and, in the chief store, bought a tin of fruit for our breakfast the next morning.
At the hostel we found that the Warden was a young girl, just as she had been described to us at Godfield. As soon as we had changed, we went down the road to get some supper. Three fellows were also having supper; one of them had been at Ottery St. Mary the night before. The other two had seen us on our way to the hostel from Beaulieu (the French sounding name beginning with a B and ending with a U).
At the hostel there were three Dutch girls and a Dutch boy. An English boy was trying to talk to the Dutch one and thought he could make him understand by shouting at him, but it was very amusing for us to hear them. About 9.30 the Dutch girls decided to go to bed and the rest of us wanted a sing-song, but although we went right through the song book, we couldn't get going as no-one could play and no-one could sing. The Dutch boy was the best, for he sang to us the Dutch version of 'London's burning'.
After giving up singing as hopeless, we had guessing things in the room, beginning with certain letters and had fun at that for the rest of the evening. We went to bed at 11 o'clock, for the warden said she was not going to wait up any longer for four people who said they were coming, so we brought down our wet clothes and put them round the fire and went to bed. We found there were several other girls in our room who we had not seen all the evening. Two people were snoring during the night.
In the morning the Dutch were as bad as they had been the night before, jabbering away in their own language as loud as they could, ignoring everyone else, although they could speak English quite well.
We started by going back to Ringwood, which we had not seen the day before, and then along the main road to Southampton. There was not too much traffic on the road at that time, although it was quite a nice day. Just over a mile before we got to Cadnum, we turned to the left to see the Rufus Stone and then proceeded mostly by by-roads to Romsey.
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| Rufus Stone, New Forest |
On the outskirts of Romsey we stayed on the bridge over the River Test and watched the birds. In one place the water turned a small water wheel which consisted of only four blades. The wheel was not connected to anything and I could not see that it was any use. We continued on to the centre of the town where there was a statue of Palmerston. A stream seemed to flow down the middle of the town and there were several water mills on it. After seeing the abbey, we tried to get something to eat, but the shops were shut.
We looked at the window of one shop for so long that someone took pity on us and let us buy some cakes. After leaving Romsey, we soon turned down a little lane to Braishfield and lunched off our cakes down there. We continued along by-ways for some way and then rejoined the main road to Winchester. In Winchester we went through the West Gate, past the Buttercross, left our bikes and wandered round the cathedral and abbey gardens. We looked in some of the shop windows; in one there was a photo of the city mill, which was called the "Hikers' Hostel".
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| Winchester Cathedral and Avenue |
| Winchester Cathedra, Choir East |
| Winchester, West Gate |
| Winchester, High Street and City Cross |
Soon after 5 o'clock we went to the hostel and wheeled our bikes down through the kitchen. We were told to go up two flights of steps to our dormitory and found that we were in a very little room under the rough cobwebbed roof and that we had to crawl through a very small opening to get in at all. We wanted to wash and were told to go through a certain door. When we opened the door, we saw only the mill stream go racing past, but on looking round we found a bucket in which we could pull up water and put it into bowls. After supper I tried to watch the ping-pong and read 'Punch' at the same time – I could concentrate on neither.
We were sad to leave our last Hostel, but were soon hurrying along to be at Petworth by 1 o'clock so that we could have our lunch in the same place as we did on our first day. This we did and then went on to Steyning where we went to look at the Youth Hostel. In trying to get back to the main road, we went over some very rough new roads. When we reached Brighton, I weighed myself and found I was 8 stone 9 lbs – I had lost half a stone. I got indoors just before 5 o'clock and just before the rain started pelting down.
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| Youth Hostel Membership Card (Junior) for 1937 (cover) |
| Youth Hostel Membership Card (Junior) inside |