Whitchurch – where? Why?

Whitchurch in north Hampshire is not a name thst’s on everyone’s lips, much less that of a tourist’s! 

It’s just under 30 minutes from Salisbury and over an hour on a direct train to London. 

The reason that Whitchurch is on my radar is that my daughter and son-in-law relocated there from London last week! Naturally I took the opportunity to find out more about the place. And what a revelation it turned out to be!

Whitchurch is reputed to be the smallest town in Hampshire. It’s immediately clear why! When driving into town, we noted that “the square” on the town map is no more than a mini roundabout (photo on the left) branching off to 5 roads! That could be daunting for drivers and pedestrians alike, particularly at peak times such as the school runs 

The beauty of Whitchurch does not lie in the centre, but the area, much of which is a conservation area. It’s on the edge of North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which inspired Richard Adams, writer of the book “Watership Down”, who lived there for 30 years until his death.

There’s so much scope for further exploration of Whitchurch. In the mean time I uncovered 2 gems which are inspiring examples of the repurposing of historic buildings

Whitchurch Silk Mill

Whitchurch Silk Mill (Winchester St, Whitchurch RG28 7AL) is a delightful heritage museum near the centre of Whitchurch. The grounds and gardens are not big, but they sure are pretty, especially on a lovely summer day. It does not take long to go round the museum but it’s worth lingering for refreshment before or after to enjoy the surroundings 

The Mill trail

The silk mill is 1 of 5 historic water mills on Mill Trail along River Test, including Fulling Mill, Silk Mill, Town Mill, Bere Mill and Laverstoke Mill. The circular walk is about 8.5 miles long so we only did a little local walk around Whitchurch as our first attempt 

Bombay Sapphire Distillery

Bombay Sapphire Distillery near Whitchurch (London Rd, Whitchurch RG28 7NR)) was formerly Laverstoke Mill which operated  as a paper mill between 1719 and 1963. At one time it held the sole contract for manufacturing banknote paper for Bank of England

After a major refurbishment the premises were repurposed as the distillery and visitor centre for Bombay Sapphire Gin in 2013. The blending of the awesome giant green house with the historic buildings illustrates eloquently how, with imagination and enterprise, historic buildings could be preserved 

We didn’t do the guided tour of the distillery as we’re not gin drinker, but the complex is fascinating. It’s great just to visit the shop and have refreshment seated outside the café to soak up the sun. This mill is also featured on the Mill trail

Revelation Decanter

This was on display at the Bombay Sapphire shop. What attracted me was not so much the decanter itself but the price tag of £100,000!!

According to the information card that accompanies it, only 5 of these decanters were made. This 10-faceted decanter was designed by Karim Rashid especially for Bombay Sapphire in conjunction with jewellers Garrard and crystal brand Baccarat.

I will no doubt see more of Whitchurch. The more I look into this area , the more my interest is piqued! For example, in addition to the Mill Trail, there’s the 24-mile Watership Down trail launched in 2022. For the time being I am well pleased with what I found in a couple of days!