Hampshire in England is where all your fantasies of village England come true – old churches, village greens and many a pub. We based ourselves in the small village of Rockbourne (staying with family, but there are plenty of farm-stays and AirBnBs around), and spent some time exploring the area. The village of Rockbourne is lovely and I highly recommend it as a base, plus the local pub (The Rose and Thistle) is a great spot for drinks and food and to soak up the local atmosphere.
Where ever you end up staying in Hampshire, there are plenty of small villages to stroll around, and being from New Zealand, I am always blown away by the sheer oldness of everything. Near Rockbourne are the lovely villages of Whitsbury and Breamore, which are both perfect places to learn some local history. St Mary’s Church in Breamore was founded by the saxons in about 1000 AD!
Hampshire is also home to the gorgeous New Forest National Park. You have to be careful when driving through as it is chocca full of ponies, cattle and deer. All the ponies and cattle grazing on the New Forest are owned by New Forest commoners i.e. people who have “rights of common of pasture” over the Forest lands and this ancient right goes back for hundreds of years. It is a beautiful and interesting place to visit, full of lovely walks to enable you to explore the area. Check out this link for some good walking routes.
While staying in the New Forest we based ourselves in the village of Woodgreen. I highly recommend it as a base for your time in the area as there is a lovely pub (The Horse and Groom) and well stocked village shop. It is a beautiful little village and absolutely full of New Forest ponies. Just watch out as some of them can be quite boisterous in their pursuit of apples you buried deep in your backpack!
It is not just villages and gorgeous vistas that you can find in Hampshire, but wonderful old towns and cities. Beautiful Winchester is only an hour on the train from London, making it a lovely place for a day trip or overnight stay. Luckily for us we have a few friends who live in the area who gave us the perfect excuse to go and visit. Winchester is a great place for history nuts like myself, home of King Alfred the Great and King Arthur (of the round table). You can really get a sense of the historical significance of the place by just strolling around. It is definitely small enough to take in the main sights in half a day so you would be forgiven to think of it as a village or small town. In fact, Winchester is technically a city because it is home to the Winchester Cathedral.
With Google maps in hand we took ourselves on a self-guided walking tour past the Cathedral, the Great Hall (round table), the ruins of Wolvesey Castle, Jane Austen’s House (her last home), the King Alfred Statue and Winchester College. We also wandered along some of the main streets as well as a few sides streets that sparked our interest, it was all just postcard perfection.
The pretty River Itchen meanders through Winchester and makes for a lovely stroll along the banks towards St Catherine’s Hill. A short climb up and you are greeted to wonderful views of the city and the countryside. The English pub culture is something that we have really got on board with, and there is nothing better than a beer and pub fare after all that walking around. The two pubs we visited were the Queen’s Arms and the Black Boy. Both were cosy and quintessentially English, however, the vibe at the Black Boy was our favourite.
Overall our visits to Hampshire have been idyllic and I highly recommend it. Cost wise, England is not a cheap place to visit. Accommodation costs do vary and while you can find affordable places, this is a big cost to factor in. Restaurants and pubs are usually cheaper outside the big cities but also do add up. If you stick to a budget, you’re looking at around £100 (NZ$190) per day.
