St Catherine’s Hill

If you heard loud groans coming from the South of England over the weekend it was probably my 2 sons who had just heard the sentence “we’re going for a walk up a hill today”.  For some reason it failed to raise shouts of excitement and cries of hallelujah.  Strange boys.

The hill in question was St. Catherine’s Hill in Winchester.

And it’s not just any old hill either.  At the top are the remains of an Iron Age fort, a copse of trees where a Norman church once stood and a mismaze.

Oh, and there are steps to make the climbing easier.  A lot of them.

Placing Tabitha on the starting line...

The hill was inhabited some 3000 years ago but the only tell tale signs are the ditch around the top of the hill.

Tabitha pretending to sway in the non existent breeze

The mismaze was, supposedly, first cut in the 17th century but no one really knows why.

#2son running the mismaze

It was worth the walk as the views are stunning and to reach the hill you have to walk along the river Itchen. We’re going to go back again -there seems to be a lot of mystery surrounding St. Catherine’s Hill.  Probably, though, not with the boys.