Weekend In Hampshire

5th August. Down to Alton in Hampshire to visit some friends this weekend. I stopped off at one of my favourite Hampshire towns, Alresford. I started my walk by going along the riverside footpath, past the eel trap and then out over the local fields. Along a nice old hedgerow, I first spotted the elderberries. They look ripe, whereas the ones I last saw in Gloucestershire were still green. Maybe it's because it's further south here or just more sheltered.

A shot of the nice rolling Hampshire countryside, looking over to Alresford.

Not far from the elderberries, in the same hedge were some dewberries.

There were also blackberries nearby, but they are nowhere near being ripe. I've yet to see enough dewberries to warrant picking them.

This is quite a varied hedge, so is probably an ancient one. The next find was some hazels nuts. Not ripe yet. I would have thought it would be at least September before they are properly ripe, It tried some, but the kernels were very small.

By the nuts was some sweet smelling honeysuckle. I wonder if you can make anything from this. Maybe wine as you can make dandelion wine. Probably not enough flowers though and it is almost certainly protected.

A dead mouse. A bit far gone for the BBQ though :)

I reached Old Alresford and started my way back alongside the watercress farm. This is owned by Vitacress and has featured on Countryfile. I don't think the farmer would appreciate me foraging some of his cress, so I'll have to find some growing wild. Probably not difficult to find in this area, with all the chalk streams.

I knew I was nearly back at Alresford now as I reached the Fulling Mill Cottage. Stunning place. The river runs underneath the house and the public footpath runs in front of their front door!

The River Arle. A tributary of the Itchen. A classic Hampshire chalk stream. Full of trout and grayling. It would be great to fish here. I did look up fishing on the Itchen and it was at least £200 a day! It's quite difficult to photograph fish because of the glare from the water.

This was the biggest fish I saw, but it was too far away for my phone camera