| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Contact: | |
| When: | Monthly We do not meet in December, January, February and August. Timings are approx. 10:30 - 1:00 pm generally followed by optional lunch. Tours usually last between 1 ½-2hrs. |
| Cost: | Around £6 per trip, but this may vary according to the fee we need to pay individual guides. |
We visit towns and villages, local and further afield, exploring the architecture, history, development and what makes a place special.
Our walks are led by knowledgeable guides.
Where possible we meet for tea or coffee beforehand and lunch afterwards.
Upcoming trips for 2026:
- Reading - Thursday 11th June
- Godalming - Thursday 16th July
- Southwick - Tuesday Sept 1st
We are in the process of planning visits for 2026 and are currently looking at Wokingham, Southwick, Abingdon, Henley-on-Thames ...
Please watch this space for more details in due course.
If you would like to contact the group by email click on the Group Contact above.
Go back to exploring all of our groups here.
Previous Exploring Towns and Villages visits
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Petersfield - May 2026
One of our favourite guides, Andrew Negus, took 25 of us round the town of Petersfield in May. Our last visit there was 4 years ago and this town never fails to prove very interesting. Petersfield is a market town dating back to the 12th century with a population today of approx 15,000. It lies…
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Abingdon - April 2026
In April we visited Abingdon. I think most of us were very pleasantly surprised as we were not expecting such an interesting and historic town. Abingdon claims to be the oldest, continually inhabited town in the country. It was built around Abingdon Abbey, which was a Benedictine monastery founded in 675AD and was dedicated to…
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Farnham - March 2026
Our first visit of the calendar year was relatively local as we went to Farnham. The last time we visited this historic town was in 2022 and we thought it worth another visit. We split into 2 groups with 2 very knowledgeable guides. Farnham has a rich history, dating back to prehistoric times. Today it…
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Alresford - November 2025
Our November trip was to New Alresford (generally known simply as Alresford), a historic market town in Hampshire, famed as the home of watercress farming. It is situated 8 miles northeast of Winchester and 12 miles southwest of Alton. It is also renowned for its Georgian architecture and the Watercress Line steam railway. Our guide was…
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Hook - October 2025
Our October visit took us all the way to Hook, where we were given an excellent guided tour by our local historian, Nick Maslin. What Nick doesn’t know about Hook, isn’t worth knowing! We started our tour at the White Hart, who provided complimentary coffee to see us on our way. The White Hart itself…
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Hungerford - September 2025
September saw another first for the group when we visited Hungerford. We had an excellent guide, who was very knowledgeable and told us many interesting facts about the town. Hungerford lies on the historic London to Bath Road and also the Oxford to Salisbury Road. The town’s hey-day was in the Georgian period when the…
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North Warnborough - July 2025
Our last trip for this U3A year was to North Warnborough and Odiham Castle. Even though we might have thought we were very familiar with the village and even the castle, we discovered a lot of interesting facts from our excellent guide, Jane Pratt. The tour concentrated around the canal and Odiham Castle. We were…
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Bishop's Waltham - June 2025
Our June visit was to Bishop’s Waltham. A bit of a trek but well worth it. Bishop’s Waltham is a medieval market town situated at the source of the River Hamble. It has a foot in the South Downs National Park and is located at the midpoint of a long-established route between Winchester & Portsmouth.…
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Hartley Wintney - May 2025
We last visited Hartley Wintney in 2015 so thought it was about time we had another look – not that anything would have changed 😊. 20 of us enjoyed a very informative talk and tour of the village, some of us seeing parts that we’d never been to before. Hartley Wintney dates back to the…