WanderWoman

Can anyone recommend a B&B in or near Stockbridge, Hampshire? It looks like a good location for day trips to Winchester and Salisbury.
Thanks for any help.
WW

janisj

What is your budget?

Cholmondley_Warner

Is there any particular treason for wanting to stay on Stockbridge? It's very small and the only real reason I could imagine for staying there is for trout fishing (which is very good indeed). Stockbridge is lovely - a real picture postcard village, but as I said, small. Here is some info and a list of accommodation options. The Greyhound is a fabulous pub with great food:

http://www.stockbridge.org.uk/

I think you have this the wrong way round. I would stay in Winchester and visit Stockbridge if you wanted too (there is an OK bus service). Winchester will give you a greater choice of accommodation and also options for eating etc.

flanneruk

You have to understand that C-W has never got over the trauma of leaving school, and thinks Winchester's the most wonderful place on earth.

Actually, it's just one of England's less nasty smallish towns (yes I know, but Americans get confused when we talk about "cities" And it hasn't got a Lord Mayor), and personally I've yet to find a decent hotel in the centre, and what's the point of thinking you're staying in Winchester if you're really in a B+B out in the suburbs?. The City of Winchester goes on for miles, so those suburbs can be an incredible way away anyway, and they're just as naff as anywhere in Basingstoke.

Stockbridge, if you've got a car, is close to idyllic, and a great location for travelling round. Hampshire's villages are often remarkably well-served with eateries: not necesarily outstanding ones, but at least a choice.

PatrickLondon

It's like Laurel and Hardy, isn't it?

Cholmondley_Warner

For obvious reasons I have no idea about hotels in Winchester (surely the Hotel du Vin is OK? - they are everywhere else) but what I do know is that Stockbridge is so small you could carpet it for £500.

Yes if you have a car it would be a good base. But it is limited in terms of eating and drinking options and isn't well served by public transport at night (ie if you've had a drink and can't drive)

There's nothing wrong with Stockbridge - as I said, it's lovely. But it is limited (and full of rock stars - half of Pink Floyd live there).

Salisbury is nice too - and again offers a greater variety of options for eating, shopping etc.

chartley

For those of a certain age, I think Pinky and Perky would be a better comparison.

Cholmondley_Warner

Beavis and Butthead.

You decide which one's which.

caroline_edinburgh

I would also rather stay in Winchester. As you say, David, the Hotel du Vin must be OK - or what about the Wykeham Arms (probably cheaper) ?

Cholmondley_Warner

Appropos nothing in particular; I used to live next door to the Wykeham Arms.

It used to be very good (but not cheap) for food and beer. It had a good reputation for accommodation (and they wanted to buy my house to turn it into an annexe for accomodation). The landlord was a complete tosser though - but he's dead now so don't worry about that.

Now back to the bill and ben stuff.

Flobalob.

PatrickLondon

Oh well, someone has to be it: Weeeeeeeeeeeed.

WanderWoman

Hello all -
Thanks very much for your responses (and jokes), and I apologize for not answering. For some reason when I've checked since Thursday, no replies appeared!? This morning I see there are 10! Either my computer is not refreshing each time I return to the Fodor's page, or the site is slow.

Well, I probably used the term "day trips" incorrectly, we will have a car and plan to drive to several spots in the area, besides Winchester and Salisbury - Wilton House, Stonehenge, Steventon Church (Jane Austen's home church). We like to walk and we absolutely love English pubs, and enjoy those in small villages (Cholmondley - we will visit the Greyhound - thanks). I'm glad to hear that Stockbridge is a nice place - even idyllic according to flanneruk!

We now have it down to two choices: Chilworth House B&B in King's Somborne, and Old Drapery Guest House in Middle Wallop. Both look fine on their webpages, and are located close enough to make the drives to Salisbury and Winchester, and visits to pubs in Stockbridge easy.

Advice from locals is the best!Thanks again for the help (and the reassurance). If you have any other tips for the area, I'd love to have them.
WW

Cholmondley_Warner

Middle Wallop is home to an airbase - so expect to see lots of RAF types (It's a training school I think).

Of the two I would plump for King's Somborne - which is also idyllic (but again - small). It has a famous yew tree (well as famous as trees ever get).

WanderWoman

Thanks again Cholmondley - you've made choosing easier - so we just booked Chilworth House in King's Somborne. BTW, what is "plump"?

flanneruk

One place in the area I'd never heard of till I passed it this morning is the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham (the village from which William of Wykeham - the Wykeham in the hotel they're on about - hailed. They changed the spelling relatively recently - about 1500, or a couple of centuries after Willy went round England founding institutes of learning).

Last time you invaded British territory without provocation, and we destroyed the White House to teach you not to do it again (it worked!), we also decided you might learn a few more manners if we nicked a few of your ships. One of them was the USS Chesapeake, which - after a kind of naval duel with HMS Shannon that now seems almost glamorous if you forget how many poor sods got killed over this complete non-issue - we then renamed HMS Chesapeake and brought back to Portsmouth.

Built as it was by cheap labour in an undeveloped country, it really wasn't up to our standards, so we had to decommission it in 1820. But the timbers it was built from were first rate, so the Navy sold them off. An enterprising chap bought them as the base for upgrading a watermill at Wickham, and they're there to this day.

The mill itself is now a slightly twee shopping complex (www.chesapeakemill.co.uk), but there's a bit of a thing about stains on the timbers that are supposed to be blood, and apparently there are teams of American naval history buffs and relatives of the US Navy crew who turn up to see their history. The timbers, BTW, are supposed to be still in generally excellent nick, though that's not quite what the parish council's telling the Lottery Commission in their bid for refurbishment funds.

WanderWoman

flanneruk -
Thanks for the chuckle (and the suggestion). It really is quite a fascinating little bit from history - although I have to say that your version of the story seems just a tad revisionist...
WW

stokebailey

I think you just scorched the White House pretty badly. I've seen the scorch marks.

Cholmondley_Warner

You might think of William of Wykeham as the great x many grandfather of Ralph and Joseph Feinnes (and of explorer Sir Ranulph Feinnes, who was too thick to be educated at winchester (as all direct male decendents are entitled to be) so Winchester paid for him to go to Eton).

Mottisfont Abbey is only a hop and a skip from Kings somborne and if you have the weather for it is a nice trip out:

http://www.aboutbritain.com/MottisfontAbbey.htm

willit

I have always found Stockbridge a good place for overseas visitors, as it does have a sort of "Chocolate box" charm that seems to fit the stereotypes.

We normally stop off at the Mayfly pub nearby. Pleasant enough without wishing to rave about it - the food is OK, if a little expensive, and you can sit out next to the river watching the Trout.


If you like walking around, there is an Iron Age fort at Danebury - quite interesting, and some good views.

waring

I got shot at by a gamekeeper in Stockbridge, something to do with err...appropriating fish that weren't mine.

The Mayflower is a great pub.

Recommend the Ship in Winchester.