A272

The last 17 mile stretch of the A272 driving west from Sussex into Hampshire – from the A3 around Petersfield to Winchester is a switchback road thru beautiful countryside that draws motorbikers like honey – even in a car as the road swings from left to right curves with the South Downs and sea in the distance on a sunny day there is something mesmerizing about this drive.

If you drive beyond Winchester you pass Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge – towards Wiltshire and Somerset, proper Thomas Hardy country. Can’t help imagining as we drive the lonliness of the end of Tess of D’Urbervilles life in these wide open rolling views.

But we only drove to Winchester before turning home, a college city with river running through and significant Cathedral and town hall – almost French and turned and found an 18th century country pub on the way home where Cromwell and King’s army marched by.

The views and fields in Hampshire seem bigger and more open but theres no place like home.

This beautiful photo by Simon Ward captures rolling Downs in Devon
(fields in Devon like Sussex are smaller than Hampshire)