Forest Great Wood

I'm coming to love the Hampshire landscape more and more. It may not have the grandeur of the Scottish and Welsh mountains, the fells and reflections of the Lake District or the gritty urban scenes of our cities. What it does have is a subtle, beguiling beauty that needs to be searched out a little. A gently undulating landscape full of history.

This photo overlooks a landscape which has a deep history. A few hundred metres into the field there was once a Roman road - this part isn't visible, but it joins up with still paved roads just either side. To think that the road has been in constant use for the last couple of thousand years is remarkable. Just to the right of the shot is a wood which contains the remains of a Roman villa. Less than mile to the south are the earthwork remains of Merdon Castle, built by Henry de Blois, Bishop of Winchester around 1138. Not a major monument, but part of our history all the same.

I sometimes wonder while whizzing along a motorway what history is so close but unnoticed. The wonder of the English countryside is how much is there if you but look.

The nearest part of the woodland in the picture is 'Forest Great Wood'. Not much to look at now, but I can only imagine what it must have been in the past when the countryside was covered in ancient woodland and part of the Royal Forest of Bere which ran from Stockbridge/Winchester all the way across to Rowland's Castle near Fareham.