Friday 14th April 2017 was a great day for the people of Portsmouth. It’s been five long years since South Parade Pier, a Grade II listed Victorian Pier, closed its doors and many of us feared that it would never reopen. It’s taken investment from a private consortium of local businessmen to repair and re-open…
Category: Pawprint series
A sea of Bluebells
I wonder what it is about that deep blue, almost lilac, hue that sets pulses a-pumping? If it isn’t travelling miles to see a field of lavender, it’s doing the same to see a field of bluebells in a woody glade. So this being bluebell season, and as I’m located in the heart of Hampshire,…
Hundred Acres, Hampshire
I have to admit to an intense interest in anything historical – the annoying child who always asks the question, why? So when heading to the woods with my more knowledgeable historian brother, I asked the inevitable question – wonder what the reasoning is behind that road name – 100 Acres Road. This is what…
Pawprint Series: Wimbledon Common
Every time I come up to town, with my faithful four legged friend in tow, we make a point of visiting Wimbledon Common – it is quite simply the most beautiful oasis of calm in the bustle of South London life. When I lived in London, this was my safety valve and I value it enormously –…
Pawprint Series: An Autumn Walk
West Walk, Forest of Bere My favourite time of year is when summer turns to Autumn and you see a final burst of activity in the forests and woods around Hampshire, where leaves turn golden in the intermittent spotlights of sunlight, streaming through the trees and undergrowth. Park Wood, Forest of Bere As you walk…
Pawprint Series: Park Wood
It might come as no particular surprise to discover that Park Wood on the old London Road in Waterlooville was once part of the ancient Forest of Bere that covered most of southern England. Nurtured today by a group of friendly and committed volunteers under the overall purview of The Woodlands Trust, Park Wood is a small…
Pawprint series: West Walk
As anyone will know if you live on the South Coast – most of the open spaces and wooded parts we have left today to explore were once part of the ancient Forest of Bere. In fact I think everywhere I have recently walked with The Hound has been a part of it – even…
Remember remember the fifth of November …
For me, Cowdray House in Midhurst, West Sussex, is one of this country’s most beautiful and desolate ruins. It seems such a elegant facade and from a distance, appears almost perfect, that it seems positively sinful to have let it go to rack and ruin. I guess, however, when you have a number of country estates…
Surrey’s Secret Beach: Frensham Great Pond
The Hound can hardly believe it – we are at Frensham Great Pond and there’s sand and water – a sight he’d only previously associated with West Wittering Beach. Yes, he was in his element for in the summer months I am told, Frensham Great Pond offers a beach environment for the people of landlocked…
Pawprint Series: Little Frensham Pond
I came across Frensham Little Pond when I was visiting Watts Gallery recently in Surrey. I mentioned it in passing to The Hound and of course, he immediately wanted to visit – well water, trees, undergrowth, other dogs – what’s not to love for a friendly doggie? Both Frensham Little Pond and its sister, Frensham Great…
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