Those who know the downs and chalk streams of Hampshire are quietly fortunate but rarely boastful. The rounded chalk hills of Hampshire have protected not only the ancient capital of Anglo-Saxon England but also the two-thousand-year-old arsenal-harbour of the Royal Navy.  It was in Hampshire that the novel reached its fullest expression through the native genius of Jane Austen, where fly-fishing and cricket were first organized and where D-day was launched. But not the least of its claims is as the birthplace of nature writing, where Gilbert White first opened up a universe of observation to the world, by confining himself to the infinite details of his Hampshire parish of Selborne.  This tradition was furthered in the county by W H Hudson, and reached its apogee with the night walks of the poet Edward Thomas before his early death in the trenches.   If Hampshire is revealed to be a crystallization of all quiet virtues of England, we also get to delight in the affectionate mocking attention of Beryl Bainbridge, P G Wodehouse and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  It is fascinating to rediscover this county as a place of extraordinary richness, through the eyes of a glittering array of authors. 

With illustrations by Matthew Rice

Including: Jane Austen, Edward Gibbon, P G Wodehouse, Edward Thomas, Gilbert White, Olivia Manning, Beryl Bainbridge, Thomas Hardy, William Cobbett.