January 2007

dear readership

Dropped by the myPetersfield website recently? If you haven't, prepare to be taken aback by the sheer quality (or quantity at least) of pointers and ideas offered by the guide to all that makes life worth living in and around the Petersfield region.

On myPetersfield these days, amongst other delights, you'll find:

pubs: from West Meon in the west to Lickfold in the east, Chilgrove in the south to Rake in the north, a rich panoply of boltholes from the pressures of everyday living, from civillised gastros that stretch the definition of 'pub' to proper boozers, offering good food, drink, atmosphere and, very often, all three. Recent favourites include the unspoiled and unaffected Country Inn at Bepton, the rather fabulous Thomas Lord in West Meon and a shamefaced change to our hitherto rather cool position on The Pub With No Name which, we concede, on a cold winter's day takes some beating...
listings: bands, poetry, drama, exhibitions, markets and a comprehensive guide to independent local cinema. As we've said in the past, cinema doesn't have to mean blockbusters and deep fried popcorn. Plus, go-to details for all your local venues. Speaking of which, if you go to nothing else over the next month or two, we recommend Roger McGough, the patron saint of English poetry, at The Petersfield School's excellent Studio venue, though, arguably, not if it means you have to miss the great (Wreckless) Eric Goulden, on in Eastney in March...
food independents: great local suppliers of great local or exceptional food and drink abound, and buying fine food locally doesn't have to mean waiting for the monthly Farmer's Markets... our current favourites include the fresh fish and shellfish at Fruits of the Sea in Petersfield's ever-improving Saturday market, and the excellent Harvey's brewery shop in Midhurst... amazing how little of your weekly budget needs to go to chainstores and multinational giants once you know your way around the independents.
restaurants: plenty, from the fancy to the rustic, but how many justify the bother of putting your hat on? We have our longstanding favourites but there are plenty of new places to investigate - we keenly anticipate visits to both The Star and Garter in East Meon and Zen in Petersfield. Any reports? We'd love to have them...
kids' stuff: a recent addition - on these long, dreary winter days, what's going to distract the tinies for a few precious hours? You could do worse than start with the excellent Art Club at the Midhurst Grange, but more suggestions needed...
Other stuff includes shops that have caught our eye, links we like, places to get out and (blown) about, an opportunity to avail yourself of myPetersfield's renowned photography and more. Enough here to tickle your fancy? Let us know what you think and send us your input, which we will treasure, use and credit - reply to this, email us or look out for the message board which will welcome your ideas, suggestions, abuse and other contributions, valid, constructive or otherwise.

Finally, please stay in touch with, and help to nurture the fledgling myPetersfield, which needs all the help you can spare to make it come alive. Feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested and if you take up any of our suggestions, tell us what you thought and most importantly - tell 'em myPetersfield sent you!

till next time,

The Editor, http://www.mypetersfield.co.uk/
 

April 2007

readership,

Second in a continuing series of (roughly) quarterly newsletters, a few carelessly assembled words to keep you up to date with happenings in and around Petersfield and this website.

New since we last enjoyed a chat are the cinema listings - you can now see what's on at your excellent local and independent cinemas, venues where love of film is a big part of the equation and it's not all about popcorn turnover and the bottom line.

Cinema listings are part of the general listings page which gets updated for the following week - and beyond - every Thursday. If you're reading this and want to promote shows or entertainment of any sort, from local bands to major tours, from wine tastings to food festivals, from Petersfield to as far afield as Portsmouth, Reading or anywhere for anything that justifies the trip - let us know and you'll find yourself listed. Also worth visiting for a list of local venues which is as comprehensive as we can make it.

You'll also now find a Kids' Page. Hoorah! Yes, we know, but boulevardiers have children too, and we know sometimes the mind goes a complete blank when trying to find something - anything - that will divert the little tykes for an afternoon. Step forward myPetersfield , but in keeping with our philosophy, we've tried to identify stuff that isn't necessarily designed to be family-friendly (how the heart does sink at the very prospect) but has just turned out that way.

And finally, we've gone all geo-spatial on the front page with our new map-based layout. No more 'where the hell are we' misery with myPetersfield 's point'n'click guide to the best of local eating and drinking. We hope to extend this principle to other sections and one day - who knows? - create a wireless-based downloadable for your in-car satellite GPS gizmo. Sounds unlikely? Rest assured, we think so too...

Elsewhere in the regular sections, here's what's happening:

In pubs and restaurants, we motored west and were knocked out by the excellent, clubby Thomas Lord at West Meon. Not so much leather on willow as leather on trouser as we settled in to enjoy excellent beers and wines, locally sourced food, excellent cooking and roaring fires. Only the last of these is likely to disappear after Easter.
Returning, we dropped by the justified and ancient Pub With No Name (the White Horse) at Prior's Dean and were forced - finally - to bring our views in line with popular opinion. Pub With No Name - our apologies. We're big enough to recognise that we were wrong. Dropping back down towards Petersfield, we hummed and hawed over the popular Trooper Inn at Froxfield but, by George, I think we've finally got that too - check the report, although note that you won't find it under pubs.
East of the border, we've enjoyed the new food and ambience at the Keeper's Arms at Trotton, sister pub to old favourite The Hawkley. Out with the sub-Saharan trappings, wall-hangings and assorted gee-gaws, in a with a new cooler look which thankfully still finds room for the fire, sofas and interesting nooks and crannies in which to enjoy the fresh and greatly shortened menu. Note: Sunday lunch at the Keepers has become a destination event. We hear good and reliable report of the Star and Garter at East Dean, where fish in particular is highly favoured. And finally, we enjoyed a fine pint at The Country Inn at Bepton, a great example of a real community pub on the edge of Midhurst.
In Petersfield itself, nothing particularly new, though we've had enthusiastic feedback concerning Zen and we can't pass over Petersfield without mentioning - again - Djangos, single-handedly flying the flag for cafe cool with an increasingly confident mix of food, drink and entertainment. Our kinda place. Now if they could only change places with Costa...
Reports coming up: The Vine at Hambledon has been enthusiastically recommended and we'll be giving it a go. And we hear rumours that the Unicorn at Heyshott, towards which our indifference has hitherto been poorly disguised, is under new ownership. We'll be dropping by there too to assess the chances of its tremendous location being complemented by a more adventurous bill of fare.

What else in food ? Not so much, other than to say that the farmers' markets get livelier and busier every month. Petersfield's turn on the rota is easy to remember: every first Sunday in the month. And though they don't need any advertising from us, Marks and Spencers is (still) coming, but do you need it ? Really? When you can get great delicatessen from Rowan's, a brilliant range of wines and beers from the General Wine Company, excellent meat and local produce from Grange Farm, organic vegetables from OrgaNick, to name but a few... we just don't see it. As M&S themselves say, in those infuriating, beyond-parody ads 'This isn't just food...' Well, we couldn't agree more, and will be developing the theme onsite over the next few weeks.

A little more about the site before we close. We're currently getting between 50 and 100 visits a day at different times of the week and if you're still reading this, you're one of a hundred or so signed up members. So far the site's been entirely uncommercial but we're thinking of taking some advertising later in the year. Not from the food side (pubs, restaurants and producers) as we believe that this has to be impartial to have any value, but other local businesses have expressed an interest and we're thinking - well, why not? But before we put our noses in the trough, let us know if this would make any difference to your ongoing reading enjoyment.

Generally, anyone can mail ideas, reviews and recommendations and we're typically updating your input to the site within 48 hours. Nothing brings a site to life, or life to a site, like interaction and we love to hear from you - apart from saving us the trouble of writing copy, it can get mighty lonesome in the myPetersfield offices at times. 'Why no message board?', some of you have asked. Well, we've experimented with one, but have found that it quickly gets flooded with spam and we reckon you probably want to go elsewhere for your dubious medical propositions. But we're working on it. Hit one of the many mail buttons though, keep in touch, and if you visit one of our recommendations - tell 'em myPetersfield sent you.

till next time,

The Editor, http://www.mypetersfield.co.uk/