Buriton
Buriton shelters under the Downs some four miles south of the
Town. It is the ideal goal for a summer Sunday walk with lunch at
the end of your  efforts.
It was only in 1886 that Buriton’s St Mary’s Church
ceased to be the mother church of its infant ‘St. Peter’s
in the Field’. This is a lovely little village, with the grouping
of substantial houses close to the Church, the large chestnut trees
and the adjacent pond. It was in the Manor House that Edward Gibbon
drafted parts of this book ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire’.
East Meon
To the west is East Meon, a charming village demanding to be walked
around. Its Norman church gives a clue to the fascinating history
of the village. The ‘Court House’ has its origins in
the 1300s and up until just over a century ago the Courts Leet were
held there.
If you want to know what the village looked like in Norman times,
why not take a trip to Bayeaux in Normandy where the Bayeaux Tapestry
exhibition includes a model of East Meon as it was at the time of
the Domesday Book.
Liss
Liss is four miles north of Petersfield and provides facilities
for its population with a good selection of shops, a Community Centre
and its own  website
www.go.to/liss
West Liss is the original settlement with a very old and quaint
church dedicated to St. Peter and some interesting old buildings.
In 1859, with the advent of the railway, the village centre and
the shops developed in their present position in East Liss. In 1932
the tower was added to the 1892 church.
Harting
Four miles to the east of Petersfield lays the picturesque village
of Harting. Nestling under the shelter of the Downs, as does Buriton,
it shares with it an old world charm that makes the village an often
visited spot for people from miles around.
Why not escape for an afternoon and marvel at the historic elegance
of nearby Uppark, a National Trust property, with its fine interiors,
ceramics, paintings  and
of course its famous Dolls’ House? Then remember that all
this is the result of magnificent restoration following the fire
of 30th August 1989.
Sheet
Sheet is a village which is included as part of the Town, though
separated by a green barrier to the east of Kingsfernsden Lane.
It has a good sense of community and features a nineteenth century
church. The 100 year old chestnut tree, planted to commemorate Queen
Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, replaced one planted for her golden
jubilee which had died. To celebrate its centenary, the Village
Hall has been renovated and is a cosy centre for village functions.
Steep
If you study the Steep Roll of Honour in the refurbished Village
Hall, you will see names such as Jarintzof, Powell and the famous
World War One poet, Edward Thomas. He served in the Artists’
Rifles and against his name you will see a cross indicating that
he gave his life in that horrific  conflict.
He is commemorated by a stone, erected in 1937, on the ‘Shoulder
of Mutton’, up on the Steep escarpment where he used to sit
and absorb the wonderful view.
Close to the Village Hall is the world famous school of Bedales,
and at the bottom of the hill is the well-known Harrow Inn. Now
that is different!
Selborne
Gilbert White immortalised this village in his book The Natural
History of Selborne. Visit his house, The Wakes, and see the exhibitions
commemorating the Victorian explorer Frank Oates and Lawrence Oates
hero of Scott’s expedition to the South Pole.
If walking is your interest, then don’t miss the Zig-Zag path
up to the hangers.
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