We have two beautiful rivers in south Hampshire, the Test and the Itchen. Both chalk streams, in their upper reaches these are noted for their water quality. In fact, due to the chalk aquafer on the Itchen, which has excellent storage and filtration, we get our water supply from this river.
But here in Chandler’s Ford we know of another, less well-known river, the Monks Brook. ‘Fordians see it popping up here and there, through Hiltingbury Lakes, at the bottom of people’s gardens, under roads: sometimes pretty as in Flexford Reserve, sometimes business-like as it rushes down a manmade culvert under Hursley Road.
