UCR: White Hill Lane

• Overall Rating: 3
• Location: Hatherden, Hampshire.
• OS Explorer Map 131, 'Romsey, Andover & Test Valley'.
• Starting OS Grid Reference: SU340510
• Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 25' 70" W001 51' 40"
• Finishing OS Grid Reference: SU348518
• Finishing GPS Co-ordinates: N51 26' 20"  W001 50' 30"
• To see: course of a Roman Road, The Fox Inn.
• ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!

We drove this pleasant byway from its eastern end. On a surface of mud and crushed gravel separated by a central strip of grass, this greenlane is an incredibly easy drive, and over its entire length the lane is well cleared of foliage, probably due to regular use of this lane by farm machinery.

White Hill Lane follows field boundaries along the bottom of a shallow valley at the foot of White Hill, from which the lane takes its name. At around a third of its total length, another byway called Hungerford Lane which follows the course of a former Roman Road which ran between Winchester and the Channel ports to Cirencester. Since it is a RUPP, however, it has been a restricted byway since 2006 and as such it closed to motorised traffic so please do not attempt to drive it. It seems to be used as a gallop for horses these days, as the junction between the two byways is protected by those white barriers usually lining the edge of racecourses.

Continuing downhill, the lane follows another field boundary and eventually ends where it meets another country road also called Hungerford Lane, just north of the village of Hatherden. For a compulsory apres-lane tipple, and some decent food, drop into The Fox Inn in Tangley (marked on the map below).

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