Hampshire is a rural county with its southern border at the sea, thus has two characters. Its county town is Winchester, once England’s capital city. The cathedral at Winchester is magnificent, located near the river Itchen, a clear chalk-stream. Hampshire’s chalk-streams are a magnet for fishermen, especially the river Test. Historic mills were used in the production of paper used to make the British bank notes. Novelist Jane Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral and her house at Chawton is open to the public as a museum. Southampton and Portsmouth are popular attractions for naval historians, with HMS Victory and the Mary Rose and cruise ships depart across the world.

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