Category Archives: Hampshire

The Watercress Line - Chugging Into Ropley Station

The Watercress Line

By | June 27, 2016 | Categories: Behind the Scenes, British Heritage, Hampshire
When we moved down to Hampshire we had no idea The Watercress Line would become so much a part of our lives. On a day when the wind blows from the north the whistle of the steam trains cuts through the air as the trains travel in a wide arc behind our village and if the wind drops, a perfect trail of steam will track the trains location as it disappears into a cutting.Continue reading this article...
Watercress And All That

Watercress and all that!

By | February 3, 2016 | Categories: British Heritage, Hampshire
One of the first things you notice when you come to Alresford, apart from the completely traditional high street, the striking Georgian architecture and coloured houses and the abundance of pubs and coffee shops, are all the references to watercress. So when back in December, Alresford Town Council invited us to join other businesses and produce a Welcome Pack for new families moving into Alresford, (download your copy at the foot of this post) we knew what we had to include.

There is watercress everywhere!

On most days in the season (April-October) you can buy bunches of the green peppery watercress leaves in the greengrocers on West Street, on any weekend during the year you can travel in and out of Alresford in a vintage steam train on the Watercress Line, then in May we have our nationally acclaimed annual Watercress Festival, when the centre of town becomes one great street festival of family fun entertainment. Finally if you wander around the town you will come across several watercress beds where you can see for yourself how this lovely green stuff is grown and if you are visiting from April to October you can probably see it harvested too.

Facts about Watercress...

Did you know, gram for gram, watercress contains more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach. It is said that Hippocrates located his hospital on the Greek island of Kos close to a stream so he could grow watercress and use it to treat his patients and apparently Napoleon was a big fan. In the United Kingdom, watercress was first commercially cultivated in 1808 by the horticulturist William Bradbery, along the River Ebbsfleet in Kent. Although it is now grown in a number of counties most notably Hertfordshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset, Alresford is considered to be the UK's watercress capital. It has been grown here for nearly 200 years and back in the 1800s watercress from Alresford was transported daily by train to be sold in Covent Garden. So back to our Binky Bear Welcome Pack; we have put together an Alresford Calendar featuring as many of our local events as we could fit on one page, and in true Binky Bear style we have written a special poem to welcome all new families who are joining us in our beautiful corner of Hampshire. So whether you are moving into Alresford or not, if you'd like to have a copy of our Binky Bear Welcome Pack you can download it by clicking on the link at the foot of this post. You will notice the The Watercress Festival this year is on Sunday May 15th and Binky Bear will be there in our usual place outside The Bell. See you there. Binky Bear A4 2pp Alresford flyer 150dpi AW
Guide Dogs Yuri

Guide Dogs

By | January 18, 2016 | Categories: British Heritage, Draft, Hampshire
Last month we took Binky on an outing to Southampton to visit The Guide Dogs Southampton Mobility Team. Binky met up with local fund raiser Katie Loucaides plus several guide dogs and puppies. We want to introduce you to Yuri, a guide dog puppy, share with you what we found about this inspiring organisation and let you know how you can help them.Continue reading this article...
The Binky Bear Winchester Walk

The Binky Bear Winchester Walk

By | January 7, 2016 | Categories: Binky Bear Adventures, British Heritage, Hampshire
The Binky Bear Winchester walk follows exactly the story in Binky's second adventure book, Binky in Trouble. In this story Binky and his friend Dog have an adventure in the historic heart of Winchester. This 90 minute walk will help you explore this beautiful city and take you past the key sights of Winchester College and Winchester Cathedral, The Buttercross and into the muddle of lanes and alleyways that make Winchester such a curious place to visit.Continue reading this article...