A fascinating book of routes through Hampshire and other southern counties.

Routes include:
Alton to Winchester
London to Winchester and Southampton via South Western Railway
Southampton to Salisbury
Southampton to Dorchester via the New Forest
Brockenhurst to Lymington, Christchurch and Bournemouth
Ringwood to Fordingbridge.

From the author: "The handbooks for the counties of Surrey and Hampshire, have been drawn up from a careful personal exploration of the country, and from the most recent information that could be obtained."

This work had its origin in a book published circa 1790, entitled 'A Companion in a Tour Round Lymington,' by the Rev J Warner.

This, in the course of years, having become entirely obsolete, and almost forgotten, was made the foundation of the first edition of the present work, being altered and re-arranged so as to suit the changes and improvements which had been gradually taking place.

The town of Lymington is situated on the south-west-coast of Hampshire, at the extremity of the New Forest; through which lies the principal road leading from it to Southampton. Few spots in the kingdom can boast a greater portion of picturesque views, or beautiful and romantic scenery

Afoot in England recounts Hudson's wanderings from village to village across the south of England, from Surrey to Devon and Cornwall, and along the East Anglian coast. It speaks as powerfully today of the simple pleasures of the English countryside as when it was first published in 1909.

About half the matter contained in this volume has appeared in various papers and periodicals—The Saturday Review, The Speaker, The Morning Post. One article in the English Review. One in Longman's Magazine. The chapter entitled “ Rural Rides ” is based on a Saturday Review paper, which was afterwards included in a volume edited by Mr. Harold Hodge, entitled Recreations and Reflections. I have to thank the editors for permission to make use of this material.

Autumn in The New Forest. The book aims to convey the pleasure found in wandering autumn hedges in all of their colour and form, with a spectacular index that lets you know where to find mentions ‘Stillness, Charm of’, ‘Gold of encrusting Lichen’, ‘Peaches, Tempting’ and our personal favourite, ‘The dying splendour of the sun.’

Francis George Heath (1843-1913) is the author of Tree Lore, Our Woodland Trees, Autumnal Leaves, Peasant Life and Fairy Plants. Heath was an enthusiastic lover of nature, and interested a large number of people in trees, plants and shrubbery through their poetic language and descriptions of the natural world. [Described here by 'The Nature Library']

Aurthor: Sidney Heath (b1872)
Artist: Ernest William Haslehurst (b1866)

From the arthor:The scenery which impresses most of us is certainly that in which Nature is seen in her wild and primitive condition, telling us of growth and decay, and of the land's submission to eternal laws unchecked by the hand of man.

Yet we also feel a certain pleasure in the contemplation of those scenes which combine natural beauty with human artifice, and attest to the ability with which architectural science has developed Nature's virtues and concealed natural disadvantages.