New Alresford

New Alresford is a handsome Georgian market town tucked into the Itchen Valley between Winchester and Alton, often considered one of the prettiest small towns in Hampshire. Despite the name, it was 'new' in the 13th century, laid out around 1200 by Godfrey de Lucy, Bishop of Winchester, who also dammed the River Alre to create Old Alresford Pond and a navigable channel for transporting wool and grain.

The town centres on Broad Street, a wide, gently sloping thoroughfare lined with colour-washed Georgian houses, independent shops, delis, tearooms and pubs. A short walk down Mill Hill leads to the Fulling Mill, a timber-framed building straddling the river, and on to the watercress beds that gave Alresford its reputation as the watercress capital of England, still celebrated each May with a popular festival and parade.

New Alresford is also the western terminus of the Mid-Hants Railway, the 'Watercress Line', whose preserved steam trains run ten miles through the Hampshire countryside to Alton, where they connect with the national network. The surrounding chalk streams and downland make the town a fine base for riverside walks along the Itchen Way.