The Candover Valley is a unique rural community in mid-Hampshire, centred around a group of five villages and four hamlets situated between Basingstoke and Winchester.
The aim of this site is to provide information to both locals and visitors about the events, amenities, and local services which are available in the Valley. It is in the early stages of development, and dependent on its users to provide information to go on it, and feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Various events are being planned to celebrate Her Majesty, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the Candover Valley.
Celebrations start with the lighting of a beacon at Preston Farms, Preston Candover, on the evening of Thursday 2nd June. Lighting of the beacon is planned for 9:45pm to coincide with the lighting of many others in a line across the country. Preston Farms have offered to provide refreshments. Further details here.
The Purefoy Arms in Preston Candover are having a party night on Friday 3rd June with live music in the garden from the Vapore Duo who will playing a selection of 1950′s music.
It is also planned to hold a “Big Lunch” on the field next to the village hall in Preston Candover, in the afternoon of Sunday 5th June. It is expected that some food will be provided but residents are encouraged to bring additional items. The Jubilee flag will be raised by the Scouts. See more details here.
Over the weekend there will also be judging of the best dressed home and there are plans for a Treasure Hunt to be completed at anytime over the weekend.
Church services in Valley churches during May, and a copy of the list of all services in the various churches in the Candover Valley parishes and the Farleigh parish can be accessed and downloaded here: -
Church services in Candover Valley churches in May 2022 Candover
The Candover Valley Gardening Club will be holding its annual plant sale at Preston Candover on Friday and Saturday, 20 and 21 May, in the field beside the Community Store and the village hall. Full details are available here. Plant sale poster 2022
Residents of Nutley, Axford, Preston Candover and Wield are experiencing a repeat performance of the sudden increase in tractor traffic through the villages this week. A fleet of tractors with tanker trailers have for the last few days each been on a twenty-mile circuit to carry liquid waste from the bio-digester at Dummer to be sprayed as fertilizer over fields between Wield and Bighton.
Local residents have been woken at 6.30 am as the first tractors go through and have continued every 15 minutes through the day until the evening. One has to question the environmental benefit of four tractors burning up a gallon of diesel on every trip and exuding greenhouse gases, apart from the noise and disturbance.
See more here.
New plans have been submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for permission to build a large warehouse complex at Dummer. The company, Newlands Developments Limited has now come up with a new scheme after the earlier proposal was turned down by the council.
The company has now submitted new plans to build a similar warehousing and distribution centre on the land at Oakdown Farm on the A30 close to junction 7 of the M3. The new proposal is not fundamentally different to the original scheme and will still create all the environmental problems and traffic issues of the earlier proposal.
See more here
and see here for the full details of the application -
The Oxdrove is the parish magazine for the Candover Valley and the neighbouring village of Wield. It is published monthly and, in addition to information about events at the four churches in the combined benefice, it also provides news and information about a wealth of activities in the Valley and nearby villages, and carries advertising for local services.
Subscriptions are now due for 2022 at £10 a year for all 12 issues. People who are not subscribers and interested in doing so should contact Ros Partridge at rospartridge1@gmail.com
As Hampshire ended another year dominated by covid the number of new cases daily was rising rapidly across all the council districts. The county hit a new record of 3701 new cases a day on the last day of 2021 and most of the districts also reached new peaks.
Hampshire recorded 18,322 new cases in the last week of the year, while Basingstoke and Deane hit a new daily record of 544 cases, and its highest seven-day figure of 2,608 and 1,467 per 100,000 population.
But with the vaccine programme working well, Hampshire Hospitals were spared a repeat of the 2020 Christmas when there were 140 covid patients being treated, compared to 41 this year.
For more details see here.
If you are planning any important road journeys in the next few months, it may be useful to check out if there are any road closures on your route. At this time of year the weather can play havoc with road surfaces, especially in the country areas. Have you been caught out when you come across an unexpected road closure or a diversion? Maybe, if you had known earlier you could have avoided it – taken a different route.
In theory, you can know in advance. Highways England operate an interactive map showing planned roadworks across counties, and even the country. Log on to the map and you can scroll down to local areas, or scroll up for a wider view; or by panning across, and up and down, you can cover a much wider area, maybe even to cover your whole route. The link below takes you to Hampshire County Council’s list of roadworks, scroll up to find the map.
See here for the map -
https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance/plannedmaintenance#list-works
The joyful sound of church bells will not be announcing services at churches in the Candover Valley during this year. The bells at all three principal churches will be silent from a serious lack of ringers!
Read more here.
Plans to site a giant solar farm on land north west of Preston Candover, close to the end of Church Lane, are moving forward.
An application for full planning permission has been submitted by Preston Farms to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and a decision is expected at the end of January; almost a year to when the plans were first revealed. The proposed site for the solar panels, capable of generating 28 megawatts of electricity, will cover an area larger than 70 football fields. It comprises three fields of 116 acres within gently sloping open countryside, close to several footpaths, which it is said “possess a distinctive quality with a quiet rural character that is sensitive to change.” Basingstoke council’s landscape team says that “the cumulative effects on landscape character that could result from the development are potentially significant.”
See more details here.
With weeks of different levels of lockdown during the past year of the coronavirus pandemic many people and families have been looking for ways of getting out of the house and seeking some form of recreation. Families living in the Candover Valley are fortunate in having a wide network of footpaths and bridleways where it is possible to take short, or longer walks, through beautiful countryside, even in winter and in relative safety, largely away from the rural roads which are narrow, without pavements, and also, mostly with a 60mph speed limit!
Read more here.
There are three parish councils serving the residents of the Candover Valley. At the northern end of the valley it is Preston Candover and Nutley Parish Council which covers Axford as well as Nutley and Preston Candover. At the southern end of the valley Northington Parish Council serves the residents of Northington, Swarraton and Totford, and in the middle it is the Candovers Council looking after people in Brown and Chilton Candover.
Information about the respective councils and their activities can be found on their own websites:
More information about the role and duties of parish councils in general can be found here.
Activities, events and places in the Candover Valley and surrounding area.
There are many organisations active in the Candover Valley and the surrounding area, and a wide range of places to visit, and activities to enjoy, in addition to many public footpaths giving you access to the countryside and its teeming wildlife. See more information here.
The Candover Valley Community Store has been operating throughout the Covid-19 lockdown periods and has enjoyed more than two years of successful trading since opening in June 2019. It provides valley residents with much needed food and household services, and has been a ‘life-saver’ for many people during the past difficult times of the coronavirus pandemic, especially during the ‘lockdown’ periods. Grateful thanks are due to the staff and volunteers who have kept the store open during this difficult time. Further information and more details of the services it provides are available here.
The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, has now received further funding from the national lottery to continue its study programme into the wild life of Hampshire’s chalk streams. Among others, the programme involves the study of habitats and wildlife in the Candover stream. Read more about it here, and the latest update report here from Maggie Shelton, the community catchments officer.
The Purefoy Arms, the 18th century pub and restaurant in Preston Candover, is continuing its success under the direction of award-winning chef Gordon Stott, the licensee. It has been awarded two rosettes by the AA in recognition of the outstanding quality and variety of its food. It is one of only three pubs in this part of Hampshire to have gained this award. More information is available here.
Oak Hill Lane, the BOAT (byway open to all traffic) which runs from the Preston end of Bradley Lane (Red Lane) alongside fields to Southwood Farm Lane, is just one of several public footpaths and tracks running through the Candover Valley. It was resurfaced by Hampshire County Council in early 2015. More information about footpaths around Preston Candover can be found here.
Many years ago a former clerk to the Preston Candover and Nutley Parish Council compiled a series of seven circular walks using footpaths in the parish and with links on local roads. Details of the walks can be found here.
Potholes can be a serious road hazard and the state of some roads around the Valley is bad. We need everyone to report the problems. The process is easy, and you can also keep a check on progress on the problems which have already been reported .Please report on potholes here
Organising an event in the area? Starting a new club or society? If you are, we’d like to hear from you. Please contact our editors about a free listing for your event or group on this site.
