The scenery of this part of the Christchurch Avon is very pleasant in
a quiet way, the wide views towards the chalk hills on each side and
the distant spire of the Cathedral, visible from every point of
vantage, make the walk especially enjoyable. Alderbury is said to be
the original village of the "Blue Dragon" of Mrs. Lupin and Mark
Tapley, immortalized by Charles Dickens, though some claim Amesbury to
be the original of this scene. It is difficult to say that any
particular village could be in the novelist's mind if, as seems
probable, he had not seen Wiltshire when _Martin Chuzzlewit_ was
written. St. Mary's Grange, on the Salisbury road, is suggested as the
original of Mr. Pecksniff's residence. Alderbury House was built from
the demolished campanile of Salisbury Cathedral.
To obtain a really good idea of the hill country, apart from that of
the Plain, a walk should be taken, by those who are impervious to
fatigue, to Broad Chalke, about seven miles from East Harnham, or even
farther to Berwick St. John, more than six miles higher up the stream.
The river Ebble itself, if river it can be called, is rarely in
evidence, but the valley it drains is beautiful and, though it
contains quite a string of villages, is so remote as to be seldom
visited by anyone not on business bent.
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