Hurricanes Hardly Happen

Hello, Blog Around The World visitors!

My tour is going to fall way short of the fantastic trips I’ve taken with many of you since I joined the group. I could happily whizz with you around Africa and the other places we’ve lived, but I hardly qualify as a tour guide to Hamsphire! Although my husband’s family have lived in the area for generations, and we’ve visited often during the years, I don’t know Hampshire like a native. However, here is a little taster and I hope you enjoy the ride!

It was Professor Higgins who melodiously informed Elisa that, “In Hertford, Hereford and Hamsphire, hurricanes hardly happen.” He was right.

In fact, nothing outlandish or dramatic happens in Hampshire. Bucolic and peaceful, it is a pretty county in the South of England where diminutive thatched-roofed cottages bump shoulders with grandiose stately homes and where crystal clear chalk streams wind their mild-mannered way through quaint villages.

Dove Cottage

Highclere

The River Test near Stockbridge

Hampshire is where the post-mistress calls you ‘Dearie’ and the milk is still delivered to your doorstep, no matter how far down a narrow country lane you may live.

Our lane

The seasons come and go without fuss or great calamity. In spring, daffodils nod on cue and bluebells carpet the woodland floor in hazy glory.

Woods near Romsey

The roses bloom bountifully in the summer and bees buzz gently in swathes of sweet-smelling lavender.

Rose in our herb garden.

Autumn brings its misty vistas and the burnished beeches whisper in a cooler breeze.

View from South Down

Badger’s Wood near Buckholt

In winter patchwork pastures are iced in white, the north wind blows and darkness creeps in early.

Our weathervane reveals the cold to come

Sunset at South Down

That's when it’s time to light the fire, curl up in the den with a steaming mug of tea and a good book and hibernate for a while.>