Romsey and


The Test Valley is one of the best kept secrets in Hampshire, nestling between Winchester, Salisbury and the New Forest, the area is characterised by its wonderful countryside, attractive towns and villages all set alongside one of our loveliest rivers, the River Test.


Old Romsey, at the southern end of the valley, was once an island, with the River Test splitting and taking two routes. Today’s OS map shows three mills and in days gone by there were several more, used for corn grinding, fulling cloth, paper manufacture, and brewing.


This attractive old market town lies close to the New Forest and has a detailed history which can be traced back to the Domesday Book and beyond, with archaeological evidence of Bronze Age and Romano-British settlements. Romsey first came to prominence during the tenth century, with the establishment of a Benedictine nunnery on the site of the present Abbey.


Romsey Abbey was started in 1120 on these Anglo- Saxon foundations and is one of the finest Norman buildings in Europe. Many treasures remain, some dating from Saxon times, and the fabric is little changed, a tribute to the original builders.


Open all year, Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, in nearby Ampfield features 180 acres of inspirational beauty and tranquillity whatever the season. The internationally renowned Gardens have a magnificent collection of over 42,000 plants from temperate regions around the world which grow across a variety of landscapes. Themed areas include woodlands, bog garden, pond area and one of Europe’s largest Winter Gardens, with an excellent all-ability path network.


Spring interest includes beautiful magnolias and spring flowers. Summer is


spectacular with azaleas, rhododendrons and hydrangeas, whilst Autumn is ablaze with glorious colour. Winter is dazzling and fragrant with winter flowering shrubs and fiery hues and textures of stems and bark.


Young visitors can explore and discover the play features including a tree house, flying carpet swing, bamboo tunnels and wobbly bridge. You can enjoy exhibitions, workshops and events all year. Visit Art in the Garden outdoor sculpture exhibition from May to October and in summer, relax to Sunday Music in the Garden.


Jermyn’s House 30


Home cooked food is served at both the Pavilion Restaurant and the Victorian manor house Tea rooms,


where Sunday roasts are also served every lunchtime in this idyllic setting.


Moving northwards to the heart of the Test Valley we find Stockbridge, which, without doubt, was a place where the privileged lived and visited. The town had three racecourses and nine training stables; it also has some of the best and most expensive trout fishing in Britain. A weekly market licence was granted during the reign of Richard l, and held in the town’s wide main street. By the late 18th century Stockbridge had become a busy market town on one of the South’s main eastwest roads and a cattle drovers’ stop on the route from Wales to London.


West of Stockbridge on the Salisbury to Andover road, lie the Wallops, the most well-known of which is Middle Wallop. A surprisingly unspoilt village, thatched and attractive, it lies, not only astride a very busy road but just south of the headquarters of the Army Air Corps.


The airfield here is still reminiscent of a Second World War airstrip, which indeed it was, but the tiny Austers and other early army aircraft visible just by the gates no longer fly from here; the Army Air Corps is now a helicopter force.


The Tourist Handbook Wessex 2011


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