A RETIRED GP from Hampshire has created a book based on his walks through the countryside visiting churches dedicated to St Mary.
Tim Goulder has written a book titled Mary's Crescent which details a four-day walk in the South Downs.
The 72-year-old said: "I was a GP in Denmead and Hambledon for 40 years and have a great love of walking in my local countryside. I always found a walk was enhanced by visiting a country village pub for a meal and a pint and increasingly over time became more interested in the local churches.
"Years ago, when GPs were on call at weekends and overnight through the week, I had a midweek day off. My youngest two-year-old son needed entertaining, so I would pack a child carrier and head for a village nestling somewhere in the South Downs
"I soon found that many of these country churches were dedicated to St Mary and so decided to limit my walks and church exploration to those with this dedication.
"Using an old-fashioned telephone directory I looked up all the St Mary churches in Hampshire and West Sussex.
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"If they were within 20 miles of where I lived and in a rural location I would set off with my son to have a pub lunch, visit the local church and have a few miles circular walk.
"I realised I could write a guidebook about these half-day rambles within Hampshire and West Sussex, which would include a circular walk, a decent pub and an ancient church."
Some years later, after walking the Camino de Santiago with two friends, Tim began to wonder if he could join up some of the villages with St Mary churches and create a few days’ walk.
One of his walking companions liked sketching and he accompanied Tim to sketch each church. The result was Mary’s Crescent - a four-day walk through the South Downs National Park starting at St Mary’s church within Portchester Castle, then going up the Meon Valley to Droxford before continuing to Buriton, South Harting, North Marden, Singleton, East Lavant and finally the Lady Chapel at Chichester Cathedral.
The book describes in detail each day’s walk and each of the St Mary churches and has lots of lovely photos and drawings.
Tim said: "The project remained on hold until lockdown. I had become semiretired in 2017 and fully retired just before lockdown, walking on my own and doing the background research was a good way to help keep me occupied during those months.
"It had a lot of family support, my wife collected me or dropped me off, one of my sons made sure the photos and drawings were fit for publication and my son-in-law created the book’s website."
The book Mary's Crescent costs £9.99 and all profits from the sale of the book will go to support the fabric of the ancient churches.
Go to maryscrescent.com/ to buy.
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