Where to stay

Bourne Valley Inn Traditional pub a few minutes’ walk from the pretty village of St Mary Bourne, with good fishing and walking. The nine chic, cottage-style rooms have colourful designer touches. Doubles from £85. St Mary Bourne, 01264 738 361, http://bournevalleyinn.com

Lainston House Elegant 17th-century country house, set in 25ha of parkland, with a dovecote, cycle paths and walled kitchen garden. Try your hand at falconry with owls, vultures, hawks and eagles, or in the cookery school. The Avenue restaurant has seasonal menus serving the likes of duck with sweetcorn, shiitake, dandelion and pear. Doubles from £149. Woodman Lane, Sparsholt, 01962 776 088, http://lainstonhouse.com

Packridge Peaceful and spacious B&B in a renovated farmhouse, with a small pool and hot tub. Many of the farm’s original old-varietal fruit trees have been kept. Stay in August, when the huge fig tree fruits. Superb Test Valley-sourced full English breakfast. Doubles from £71. Packridge Lane, Romsey, 023 8073 3073, http://packridgeestate.com

The Greyhound on the Test Atmospheric, comfortable country inn that’s ideal for enjoying Stockbridge and the local countryside. Restaurant with grills, local charcuterie and an extensive wine list. For breakfast enjoy smoked Test trout with scrambled eggs and Stockbridge mushrooms with fried duck egg. Doubles from £145. 31 High Street, Stockbridge, 01264 810833, http://thegreyhoundonthetest.c...

The Peat Spade Inn Well-restored traditional inn just off the Test Way. Chef Nathan Gebert uses charcuterie from Parsonage Farm, Hampshire cheeses and local beef. Dishes include chicken and rabbit terrine and Old Sarum blue cheese soufflé. Doubles from £145. Longstock, Stockbridge, 01264 810 612, http://peatspadeinn.co.uk

Travel Information

You can expect an average high temperature around the Test Valley in May of about 17C. Average lows are about 7C.

GETTING THERE
South West Trains runs daily services from Waterloo to towns across Hampshire, including Alton (for Watercress Line). http://southwesttrains.co.uk

RESOURCES

Visit Hampshire For comprehensive information on cultural and historic sites, places of natural beauty, travel planning and events in Hampshire go to http://visit-hampshire.co.uk

Hampshire Fare For information on the Test Valley Food Trail, local producers, artisans, markets and festivals, visit http://hampshirefare.co.uk

Test Valley Borough Council has a visitor’s guide with an array of useful tips for seeing the area. http://testvalley.gov.uk

Test Way has been divided into eight sections, each offering an excellent day out on the popular 70km trail. Plan yours and find many more great walks to try at www3.hants.gov.uk/walking/longdistance/testway

Where to eat

Daisy’s of Houghton Café and terrace overlooking Houghton Lodge kitchen garden. Handmade cakes like lemon drizzle, plum and coffee and walnut. Scones with jam, light snacks and a selection of teas. £8. Stockbridge, 01794 515 408, http://daisycakecompany.co.uk

The Globe Welcoming inn with a large garden and terrace overlooking the water. Great in warmer weather when the sizeable pond abounds with an array of wildlife. Try the chalk stream trout and Hampshire cheese board, as welll as the amber-brown bitter Hampshire Rose. £22, with a pint. 20 The Soke, New Alresford, 01962 733 118, http://theglobealresford.com

The Three Tuns A few minutes from Romsey’s market square, this 300-year-old pub has a frequently changing menu featuring locally sourced black pudding and beefburgers, trout and cheeses. Try the Flack Manor Double Drop amber bitter and its variety of local guest beers. £18, with a pint. 58 Middlebridge Street, Romsey, 01794 512 639, http://the3tunsromsey.co.uk

The White Hart Stylish gastropub that was once an inn favoured by ‘hanging’ Judge Jeffreys. A good place to sample River Test trout, Hampshire pork, seasonal lamb and watercress, local wines and gin and tonic jelly. The historic building has five rooms, too. £22, with a pint. London Road, Overton, 01256 771 431, http://whitehartoverton.co.uk

Thyme & Tides Friendly deli and café with a fresh fish counter and an array of Hampshire award-winning cheeses, including Tunworth and Lyburn Farm. Daily specials may include the likes of Tatchbury (New Forest) pork pies, local ginger beer, and beer and elderflower bubbly. Or take a picnic of scotch egg, cured meats, dressed crab and salad to the banks of the nearby River Test. £12. High Street, Stockbridge, 01264 810 101, http://thymeandtidesdeli.co.uk

Food Glossary

Food and Travel Review

A stroll along the banks of a mist-shrouded River Test is a moment in paradise. Anglers cast their lines beside the weeping willows and gently bowing reeds as it weaves through some of rural Hampshire’s prettiest towns. The fertility of the land is no accident. Springing up through the chalk rock, the water travels over downland, formed from thick layers of crushed shells laid down about 70 million years ago when southern England was covered by the sea. Since Roman times, man-made channels have helped control seasonal surges, nurturing the soil for farmers and, in recent years, some of England’s best vineyards. For Peter McLeod and Alex Jardine, expert fly-fishermen, the mist is less romantic. ‘Fish look upwards and they like to be able to see that they are safe,’ says Jardine. ‘So this will send them into hiding.’ But few fish in the Test are ever safe, because its cold, fast-running water provides perfect conditions for a sport that was first developed here in the mid-19th century.

Hampshire has many chalk stream rivers. They support an abundant and diverse plant life along banks and in the water. McLeod knows the area well. ‘We’re looking for little patches of weeds in the water, not big patches,’ he murmurs, as we walk quietly along a footpath. ‘Fish are not stupid. They don’t sit in the strongest current where they’d have to expend a great deal of energy to remain in place. A fish will find a small cave for itself, created by overhanging weeds. Here, it sits and quivers, and moves sideways, then hits the surface to feed.’

Jardine has come prepared. He carries two rods of different weights and 2,000 ‘flies’ of varying colours, shapes and sizes to suit any climatic condition – and cunning – that he may face. At the core of fly-fishing is not just the bait but the life cycle of real flies. The female falls into the water to lay her eggs once she has mated, and is spotted by fish, which have conical vision. It’s in this ‘cone’ area that fisherman aim their flies. ‘This is why we call it fishing, not catching,’ says McLeod. ‘We consider ourselves hunters.’ Stalking plays a large part in successful fly-fishing, and no zealous fisherman would be distracted, like I am, by the glorious mass of wild flowers beside the path and the small cloud of ascending butterflies. These skills, and a quirky history of Victorian empire-builders taking their fly-fishing hobby with them to India and beyond, have created a sport full of ritual, especially on the River Test. The trout here are legendary. So too is a crop that flourishes in these chalk valleys with their shallow water table. From seed, watercress takes up to 12 weeks to mature, so growers plant two crops a year – one harvested in May and another that’s ready by autumn. This pungent, deep-green herb is at its nutrient-packed, appetising finest in Hampshire in these months. ‘We keep a sharp eye on the weather and small, uninvited visitors during the growing seasons,’ say third-generation growers Penny and Sean Ede. ‘Storms can flatten a crop, and snails and slugs love watercress.’

Thanks to Victorian railway engineers, city-dwellers were able to enjoy efficient fresh supplies of watercress, and other perishable foods grown on the local soil. The days of steam are gone – and the route axed – but 450 volunteers today keep engines running on the Watercress Line, a track that passes through the Hampshire countryside, making frequent stops for lunch and tea.

Naturally, watercress features on many menus in the estimable local pubs, restaurants and delis. At The Globe, a 15th-century pub in the picturesque town of Alresford, chef Paul Down serves a light, crumbly watercress and walnut tart and peppery watercress and pork sausages. Further north, in St Mary Bourne (‘bourne’ means small stream), chef Ryan Stacey sources his game, rabbit, venison and partridge from within a five-mile radius. ‘This is the obvious thing to do,’ he says, as we enjoy his garden near the river meadow at Bourne Valley Inn, ‘because the quality of the ingredients around here is fantastic.’ Chef Nathan Gebert of The Peat Spade Inn, located just off the Test Way walking path, agrees. ‘Though of all the great products I can find here, there’s one I particularly love: trout.’ His understated style is well-demonstrated in his dish of fresh trout fillet with hot- and cold-smoked trout. Test Valley chefs benefit from local artisanal skills. Sarah and John Mills of Parsonage Farm keep Gloucester Old Spots, and make delicious charcuterie from their pigs. ‘We buy a young pig once it’s weaned, from local farmers we trust to have raised it well,’ says John. ‘Then fatten it outside on grass – even throughout the winter – for about a year, when it has a little muscle and a good layer of fat.’ Sarah continues, ‘In order to have something good to eat you need to look after the basics – in this instance, the pig. If it isn’t looked after, it won’t taste good.’

Thankfully, these intelligent and clean animals know what they like, too, and their excellent taste will provide some fortunate people later with flavoursome sausages. ‘A farmer gave us some apples,’ John says with a smile, ‘one variety sweeter than the other. We dumped them in front of the pigs. They sniffed them all, ate the sweeter apples, then polished off the rest.’ A good pub needs good beer, and one place to find it is at Flack Manor Brewery in Romsey. ‘Our biggest investment is the mill,’ says production manager Terry Baker. ‘It means we can control the quality of the barley we use, as it starts to deteriorate the moment it’s milled.’ He mills locally sourced barley early morning the day before he starts to make the beer, and mixes it with water to make a mash. ‘I add hops – English ones provide more drinkability – then yeast, and let gravity do its work for 16-18 hours. What’s left is fresh, young yeast and, a few hours later, the surface of the beer looks like a mountain range.’ The mash supplies a local farmer and his happy pigs, and the brewer’s expertise produces fine, uniquely flavoured beers. It’s an ecosystem in itself. Beer is also a way of life for Mark Betteridge, owner of the eponymous brewery. He goes to Warminster Maltings for his malt. ‘They walk up and down the spread-out barley, turning, raking and ploughing it by hand,’ he says, ‘to get it to exactly the right stage for baking, and for the brewer. I appreciate the care they take – they put their heart and soul into it, it’s a labour of love.’ His preference is for British hops. ‘Sensitive to their growing conditions, their terroir, they are earthy, flowery and delicate.’ He delivers his beer to pubs within a 10-mile radius where he can talk to the publicans. ‘Beer has four ingredients – water, yeast, malted barley and hops – and the best beers can be uncomplicated,’ he tells me, when I ask him why his Jenny Wren ale (named for his wife) is so appreciated by aficionados.

Hampshire is now on the radar of wine enthusiasts, too, thanks to the chalk, clay and sandstone soils and south-facing slopes. Only a few vineyards are commercial but one, Hattingley Valley, is featured on a wine list at The House of Commons.

‘We watch the vines – and later their grapes – very carefully, especially at harvest around mid-October, when we decide the moment to pick,’ says winemaker Emma Rice, as we walk along rows of vines, pinot noir grapes to the right, chardonnay to the left. ‘We pick by hand, to avoid any damage to the grapes.’ The UK’s first solar-powered winery also has a grape press imported from Champagne with an angled feed slope to aid crushing. The French connection isn’t confined to wine. A few miles away, lavender-perfumed air assails visitors to Long Barn, where owners Jane Marsden and Richard Norris grow many varieties of this wonderful plant. ‘France was lucky with its perfume industry,’ Norris observes, ‘as lavender is native to the Mediterranean. But lavender loves chalk soil and, in Victorian times, a great deal was grown nearby for its oil.’ Victorian cooks made lavender shortbread too, and we enjoy it here once more. Hampshire cooks have only recently become familiar with buffalo meat. When Dagan James, owner of Broughton Water Buffalo, near Stockbridge, inherited his grandfather’s farm 15 years ago, he needed to restore fertility to the long-farmed soil. After much research, he decided that a buffalo herd would do this. Buffalo by nature churn up and stomp the land. I see the collapse of farmland from overuse and abuse and this, for me, isn’t the future. Instead, I’ve planted hundreds of trees, and have introduced chicory, pea and clover to enrich the soil and feed.’ His animals seem friendly and curious. Residents in nearby villages may have witnessed this when the buffalo occasionally succeeded in wandering off to explore their neighbour’s world. ‘I’ve always managed to talk them home,’ James assures me.

Buffalo, pigs, wine grapes, orchard fruits, vegetables and watercress all thrive in these gentle, rolling chalklands, and fish need to practise particular craftiness in the fast-flowing River Test and its tributaries. But fly-fisherman Jardine is craftier. After 12 minutes of pursuit, he lands his fish. ‘The game finishes only when you or the fish gives up,’ says McLeod. ‘If it’s you who gives up, it’s time for that bottle of champagne you’ve brought with you. If it’s the fish, then that too is the moment to open the bottle.