Local knowledge

Taxis

There are plenty of ranks in Hampshire’s major cities, but you’re better off booking ahead in smaller towns. Brockenhurst Taxis (+44 (0)1425 619922; www.brockenhursttaxis.co.uk) are handy for getting around the New Forest area and Southampton Taxis (+44 (0)23 8039 2798; www.southampton-taxis.com) cover the city and surroundings pretty well. In northern Hampshire, try Aldershot-based Rushmoor Taxis (+44 (0)1252 333555; www.rushmoortaxis.com).

Tipping culture

10–15 per cent is standard, but most restaurants will habitually add 12.5 per cent to the bill.

Siesta and fiesta

Late-lunchers be warned: outside the cities, you won’t find many meals on offer between 2.30pm and 6pm, when most kitchens close. Evenings antics ease off around 11pm, except in Portsmouth and Southampton where substantial student populations keep the late-night drinking dens in business.

Packing tips

An open-top and driving goggles/Hepburn headscarves for classic countryside jaunts; a rambler’s cane for New Forest wanderings.

Recommended reads

Pack your classics: Jane Austen spent most of her life in Hampshire and her headline tomes Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility both take inspiration from the area. Dickens may have been born in Portsmouth, but his literary interests lay elsewhere. Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers is set in a fictionalised Winchester and virtually everything penned by Thomas Hardy takes place in Wessex – the ancient kingdom of which Hampshire comprised a hefty chunk.

Regional specialities

Hampshire is farmer’s market country, so prepare your picnic basket to accommodate fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables such as strawberries, blackberries and New Forest mushrooms. Other farm products – sausages, cheeses and ice-creams – also figure high on the gastronomic agenda, and the River Test’s trout have kept local smokeries in business for centuries. Venison from New Forest deer is particularly prized; try it and its feathery game counterparts at Blackmoor Game (www.blackmoorgame.co.uk) in Arlesford. Salad historians may like to note that Hampshire is the UK’s watercress heartland.

Currency

Pound sterling (£).

Time zone

GMT.

Dialling codes

UK: +44; Southampton and Portsmouth: (0)23.

Do go/don't go

Hampshire’s both sunnier and rainier than most areas of the UK, but make the most of the former and go between May and September. The coastal towns heave with seaside-seekers in July and August, and pretty Winchester swarms in summer, but most parts of the county are pleasant and crowd-free throughout the year.