Let’s go to Winchester to see the cathedral said Bob one summer’s day so off we went to see possibly the most beautiful ecclesiastical building I have even seen. Walking towards the cathedral from the town through an avenue of shady limes, you are suddenly presented with a building of such overwhelming size, it tends…
Category: Hampshire
Regal Ruin – Netley Abbey
I chanced upon Netley Abbey when flicking through my English Heritage handbook so, one sunny day, I set off on a “ruin hunt”. Accessed via an inauspicious tiny car park (don’t worry – you can park in neighbouring roads easily), you are not really prepared for the vastness and the romanticism of this venerable ruin….
Regal Ruin – Titchfield Abbey
I love a good ruin hunt and thanks to Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, there are quite a few to see in the UK today, all at various degrees of disintegration. So it’s Ruin Week here on A3Traveller! Titchfield Abbey looks quite impressive when you drive through its narrow gateway to park up in…
Who was Gilbert White?
Every day, driving home from work on the A3, I see a sign to Selborne and Gilbert White‘s House. At a loose end one day, I determined to visit this little Hampshire village and just see what all the fuss was about – I’m very glad I did. When you enter the house, it’s modest…
Where Mr Darcy was born …
I am a little embarrassed to say that I didn’t realise that the little village of Chawton in Hampshire was once the home of one of our literary giants … in the rather demure figure of Jane Austen. Seeing the sign to Chawton when returning from Goodwood one day, I stopped a while to visit…
Going uptown to Uppark
It’s an odd name for a stately home – Uppark, don’t you think? It is, however, more simple than you might expect. It’s so-named due to the fact that you literally go Up to the Park for the house stands atop rolling parkland with far reaching views over the surrounding countryside and the Solent beyond….
A Beach Hut is a peculiar thing …
Have you ever wondered why The Beach Hut exists and people spend thousands trying to obtain prime huts in key locations? Apparently, reports say there are 23,000 of them up and down our coastline. I keep looking at them, and for me, I just don’t really get it – I don’t understand their allure. My…
South Parade Pier: A shadow of her former self
I’ve lived in Southsea, Portsmouth for a good part of my early life and find the sad demeanour of South Parade Pier a little hard to take. I worked as a student in the gift shop at the Pier’s entrance when the Pier was at the centre of a thriving tourism industry. My brother can…
A touch of Downton …
With the new series of Downton Abbey about to hit our screens, why not fit in a visit to Stansted Park in Hampshire? I have long intended to visit but for some reason or other, I put it off until a couple of weeks ago. Now I wish I had visited sooner and I will definitely…
Mottisfont – a Hampshire find
It was the name that spoke to me – Mottisfont – I have never heard of it and until I joined the National Trust, it would have remained a mystery. Thank goodness I joined for this is a spectacular house – and one of the few that I have seen that was successfully transformed from…
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