The quiet fields

For those who prefer not to follow the crowd, we reveal some of the best, but relatively undiscovered places to enjoy in the country’s chicest region

Eleven friends of COUNTRY LIFE pen a love letter to their small, yet oh so distinctive patches of the British Isles, from the big skies of the north Norfolk coast to the street art of Belfast, from the glens of Perthshire to the Exe estuary in Devon via the apple orchards of Herefordshire

• Distance: 11¼ miles/17.9km • Time: 5 hours ...

In the early 1970s, I relied on a 1961 Austin Cambridge for weekend jaunts along the salty north Norfolk coast. “Relied” is probably the wrong word, as the car wasn’t exactly reliable. I would make a

Gin, witches, regicide, boats, nudists, an Egyptian curse, Spitfires, the invention of windsurfing and more writers and vineyards than you can shake a fishing rod at: this beloved English county has it all. Here are 13 stories you may never have heard about Hampshire

Rural Britain looks peacefully idyllic, but dig deeper and you’ll find a dark and complex history. Corinne Fowler takes a country walk in Hampshire and into the nation’s colonial past.