Tag Archives: picturesque

Wherwell Looks Like a Postcard

Since moving to Hampshire, one thing that has struck me repeatedly is just how picturesque all of the villages in the area are. It feels like every place is a combination of thatched cottages, a pond, a little church and probably a nice-looking pub. When you say it that way, it doesn’t sound too bad. Nancy had found a local walk that seemed like it might be interesting, so we decided to try it out.

It started out in a village called Wherwell. Wherwell does its very best to fit in with the profile that I outlined above. The pub is currently being refurbished and there is a river instead of a pond but otherwise, it ticks all of the cuteness boxes. Here are some images of the village from our stroll. It is a linear village, so everything is pretty much along the one road and that means you have to be conscious of vehicles coming through.

Longparish – Like A Postcard

The first part of our UK trip in February involved staying in the village of Longparish.  This is the combination of a few hamlets into one “long parish”.  We had some spare time when we first arrived to wander around the village.  It was so picturesque, it was almost like someone had taken the instructions, make a cute English village and done exactly that.

It is situated along the River Test.  The river is in multiple branches at this location and they all seem to be running quite fast.  There are also streams running through the village that are feeding the main river.  Thatched cottages abound and a couple of pubs provide the right village feel.  There are a couple of large houses – one at each end of the village – which, presumably, owned the majority of the land in days gone by.  They still seem to have a lot of land.  The village cricket club finishes things off but, since it was not yet the season, we didn’t get to watch any matches.

Is Alresford Too Pretty To Be Real?

A short distance from Winchester is the little town of Alresford.  I had flown over it as a youngster but had never actually visited and, when our friends suggested it as a good place to meet up while we were visiting, we went with their suggestion.  The center of the town is quite picturesque but some of the older parts of the town are just too like a postcard to be credible.  The oldest buildings include some down by the river where the old mill was.  As you walked along the path by the water, it was hard to believe that some of these buildings hadn’t been created by a set designer for a period drama.  This was a theme for our whole visit with so many villages with postcard-like houses.