Regional Info
Geography
The region includes rolling farmland and the South Downs, together with major cities and large towns. Large parts of the region, particularly the South Downs, have been designated National Parks or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The coastal area is famous for its sailing facilities. Its proximity to London together with extensive road and rail communications make it popular with commuters who wish to live outside the capital itself.
Cities and Towns
Southampton is one of the largest ports in Britain and Portsmouth remains one of the country’s major naval bases. These two cities dominate the whole of Hampshire’s South coast, and the surrounding area is very much economically dependent on them. However, the sailing areas around the Hamble and Chichester are very much entities in their own right.
Away from the South coast Hampshire boasts the large towns of Winchester, Basingstoke, and Andover, all of them thriving communities, and smaller towns such as Alresford, Romsey, Ringwood, Alton, Liphook and Petersfield, together with a large number of attractive villages across the county.
In West Sussex the area south of the South Downs includes Chichester and the popular sailing area near it on the coast at Bosham, together with the seaside resorts of Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, Worthing, Hove and Brighton. North of the Downs there is some very beautiful open countryside, in which are the large towns of Horsham and Crawley and the smaller towns of Midhurst, Petworth, Pulborough, Storrington and Billingshurst and many pretty villages.
Surrey is dominated by the large town of Guildford, and includes the popular smaller towns of Godalming, Cranleigh, Haslemere and Farnham. The Surrey Hills are particularly popular and have some stunning villages complete with village greens and great pubs.
Communications
International Airports – Gatwick, Southampton and Bournemouth, and Heathrow all within easy reach.
Rail – South West Trains from Bournemouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester, Andover, Basingstoke, and Guildford provides excellent access to London and to other national rail networks. West Sussex is served by Southern Railway from Chichester, Worthing, and Brighton.
Road – the M27, M3, A303, A3, A31, A34 and M23 together with many other A roads all provide good access to the M25 and London and the rest of the national road network, and the south coast is very well served by the M27/A27.
The journey time from London to Southampton by road or rail is approximately 1hr 30mins. Nowhere else is more than 1hr 30mins from London. When the tunnel to bypass the traffic lights at the Hindhead crossroads is completed in 2010, the A3′s most notorious bottleneck will be eliminated and journey times to locations beyond Hindhead will be very much shortened.
Properties
In an area as large and diverse as this region there is naturally a complete range of property, from small cottages to very large country houses with asking prices from £400,000 upwards.
Economy
The economy of the region is immensely varied, including major ports and dockyards, farming, light industry, service industries and tourism. Inevitably however the housing market is affected by the ease of access to London and the opportunity to commute to the capital, while enjoying a country lifestyle.
Schools
State Education
There is the normal diversity of state schools at all levels. See the Hampshire and West Sussex county websites.
Independent Schools
There are many fine independent schools in the region ranging from Winchester College to small preparatory schools. See the Independent Schools Information Service website.
Leisure
Sailing is enormously popular along the south coast, particularly in the Solent, and south of Chichester. The region is full of golf courses both inland and by the sea. Portsmouth Football Club plays in the Premiership and Southampton are currently in the League One. Bournemouth and Brighton both have clubs in the lower divisions of the Football League.
The Rose Bowl in Southampton is the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club and has been granted Test Match status, while the headquarters of Sussex County Cricket Club is in Hove. The Rivers Test, Itchen and Avon are famous for fishing, and hunting and shooting are also widely available throughout the region.
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