A walk through history

As I followed the burbling River Itchen around the old city walls and across a water-meadow illuminated by the pale spring sunlight, I could almost picture poet John Keats polishing one of his greatest lines.

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness", wrote Keats, inspired by an autumnal glimpse of Winchester in 1819, when the mighty cathedral – reckoned to contain 100,000 tons of stone – was a mere 725 years old. Two centuries on, if you follow the Keats Walk around this historic city, the views are better than ever.

Winchester has preserved its fine Georgian and Victorian terraces by nudging modern developments closer to the railway station.

To make the most of the views, leave the car by King Alfred's statue and follow the riverbank – adjusted 2,000 years ago by the Romans.

It's a brilliant walk – from the 18th-century City Mill, still in working order and maintained by the National Trust, beyond the austere walls of the Bishop's Palace, past the entrance of Winchester College and an elegant terraced house where Jane Austen spent her last days.

As meadowland opens up on your left, you can divert from the dog walkers to head into the elegant Wykeham Arms pub for a coffee or a pint on the open terrace.

During my 40-minute stay, I didn't hear the sound of a single engine. Yet the ring road and multi-storey car parks were only a few hundred yards away across the city centre.

After lunch, I had the good fortune to join a guided cathedral tour led by retired Army officer Charles Stephens.

Through his expert eyes, the building came excitingly to life: the box holding the bones of King Canute's wife, the dusty, grey cloister used in the filming of the Da Vinci Code, a curved hole in the wall once clawed by the fingers of medieval pilgrims desperate for the healing powers of 9th-century Bishop (and later Saint) Swithun.

The coffin long thought to contain William Rufus, a hated king who was killed by an arrow through the chest, may actually hold someone else.

And there's a marvellous contrast between the chantry chapels – occupied by medieval prelates who had the spare cash to endow an Oxbridge college – and a humble bronze of William Walker, a diver whose heroic work early in the 20th century saved the cathedral from subsiding into the Itchen floodplain.

Narrow lanes and back streets are crammed with small shops, boutiques and galleries. Specialist markets focus on fine foods and local crafts, and the Saturday market sells everything from fruit and vegetables to flowers and second-hand books.

Good though the shops are, this is one of these places where the past seems more interesting than the present.

At the top of the high street, you can explore the Gurkha Museum in Peninsula Barracks, where the tableaux of heroic military actions demonstrates even more valour and bravery than Joanna Lumley on the warpath. The souvenir shop runs to Gurkha Fine Foods – including fiery curry sauces and salsa dips. Next door, the Great Hall – one of the few surviving parts of Winchester Castle – is home to the legendary Arthurian Round Table which has hung there since 1348.

With a family in tow, you'll also be tempted by major attractions outside the city. In Marwell Wildlife's 140-acre zoological park, you'll find more than 250 exotic and endangered species. While the giraffe house remains a big attraction, and the Grevy zebras bestride a recreated African valley with elegance, I heard umpteen children pleading to meet the meerkat.

When it rained, we took tea in the village of Alresford – munching a scone made with watercress, another local delicacy. The Watercress Line, running for 10 miles between Alresford and Alton, has regular special events including an Ivor the Engine day out.

But it was after dark when Winchester gave us its biggest surprise. When it's time to eat, the city has a huge selection ranging from standard chains such as Prezzo and Pizza Express – often in converted older buildings – to numerous pubs and restaurants, many specialising in high-quality food and drink produced locally.

You can't fail to be impressed by the quality of the cooking and a sense of fun – the two don't always go together – at The Black Rat in Chesil Street. The restaurant is run by David Nicholson – an ex-Stowe public school boy who looked around for work when his brief Army career came to a halt.

He secured a freehouse for the cost of the fixtures and fittings, crammed it with items from the auction rooms – a collection of 40 fire buckets, stuffed bamboo rats and a baboon in a kilt – and triggered such demand for local ales that a restaurant followed two years ago.

It promises "classic British food with a slightly modern twist" and the two chefs – Chris Bailey assisted by Jamie Stapleton-Burns – served up an unforgettable and well-priced evening at about 40 for three courses.

In the same road, on the next night, we sampled Chesil Rectory – another favourite from the restaurant guides.

At a similar price level, head chef Damian Brown's specialities included seared breast of wood pigeon with toasted hazelnut and beetroot dressing for starters and mains such as grilled fillets of Dorset plaice with broken potatoes, curly kale and broccoli and caper nutty butter.

With a limited supply of hotels, the cheapest way to stay in the heart of Winchester is a B&B: Singles start at about 37.

For more facilities, stay outside the city. Our base, the Norton Park Hotel in Sutton Scotney – part of the QHotels group – stands in 54 acres at the end of a twisting drive with plenty of rabbits hopping around in the distance.

The 16th-century manor house at Norton Park, carved into apartments, looks across a lawn to the lake beyond. Elsewhere in the grounds are an orangery and a walled garden, and people can choose from a wide range of treatments in the spa and fitness centre.

I enjoyed a swim in the pool which was usually empty before breakfast – and before delegates arrived for conferences which filled the public rooms on most days.

You could escape the world, for days on end, in Norton Park – but then you'd miss out on the city at the centre of history since Roman times.

WINCHESTER FACTS

Jeremy Gates was a guest of Winchester Tourism and stayed at the Norton Park Hotel.

Norton Park reservations: 01962 763000 and www.qhotels.co.uk

Winchester Tourist Information Centre (01962 840500 and email to [email protected]) produces an excellent free Visit Winchester 2010 guide.

Detailed information is available at www.visitwinchester.co.uk

The Best of Hampshire: A Landmark Visitors Guide, by Chris & Jackie Parry, is published by Landmark Publishing in paperback, priced 8.99. Out now.

YP MAG 5/6/10