Hampshire hotels collection

The rivers of Hampshire run so clear that the trout can be seen from the bank. The Test and the Itchen flow over chalk, which filters them, and are fished with a fly according to an etiquette nobody questions. Winchester, on the Itchen, built its walls of flint and its cathedral, where Jane Austen lies beneath a black slab that neglects to mention she wrote. Further down, the New Forest spreads its heather heath and its oaks, which once became ships at Buckler's Hard, a hamlet of brick running down to the river. The ponies cross the roads at their own pace, and the cars wait.