Romsey is a handsome abbey town on the River Test, with the National Trust’s Mottisfont estate — famous for its rose gardens and ancient plane tree — just four miles upstream, and Broadlands, the former home of Lord Mountbatten, on the edge of town. The Test Way long-distance path follows the famous chalk stream through the area.

A handsome abbey town with good independent shops, Romsey makes a fine base for the Test Way — one of England’s most celebrated chalk stream valleys — and is well placed for the northern fringe of the New Forest.