WALKING, SHOOTING AND FISHING

For the devotee of country pursuits, Wiltshire is as close to heaven as it gets

There are few better ways to enjoy Wiltshire than with a day spent exploring the great outdoors, returning to the comfort and sustenance of Howard’s House.

At the heart of the Nadder Valley, our country hideaway is surrounded by world class walking, fishing and shooting. We are here to ensure that your experience exploring Wiltshire lingers long in the memory.

For those out exploring for the day, we can provide delicious picnic hampers, sure to satisfy any fresh air appetite.

For shoot lunches, or exclusive use bookings for fishing or shooting parties, you will find nowhere more relaxing, welcoming and comfortable than Howard’s House.

Fly Fishing

The central south of England is the world centre of dry fly fishing. The Test, the Avon and the Wylye all have their devotees. The Nadder is a largely undiscovered pleasure that awaits the discerning fisherman. The river hereabouts is in perfect balance with nature, changing every season and free from the constraints of over-management or over-stocking.

In his famous book Travels With a Two-Piece, John Bailey describes the Nadder as the high spot of the fishing year. From early mayfly through to late September when the educated trout are equal to every manoeuvre, fishing these gin-clear waters is something every passionate countryman should seek to enjoy at least once. For many, it has become an annual pilgrimage, with the comforts of Howard’s House at its heart.

Fishing can be arranged directly by us, with Famous Fishing, or direct with the Compton Chamberlayne Estate.

Shooting and Stalking

With some of the most challenging driven shooting in the country, the Nadder Valley offers high bird days from the start of the partridge season through to 1st February. The area also has some of the UK’s most natural and exciting woodland stalking.

Howard’s House can arrange for individual days or full corporate parties, as required. Our location creates the perfect foil for the great outdoors. The shooting season also features a range of menu choices which celebrate the best of British game.

Because of its particular size, the hotel is the ideal choice for exclusive use, and therefore presents an ideal opportunity for shooting parties. If you would like to talk about your shooting arrangements for the coming season, please contact us.

Clay Pigeon and Simulated Game Shooting

We are able to offer clay pigeon shooting in Teffont, and simulated game shooting in Broadchalke.

The team at Howard’s House can put together an entirely bespoke package to suit your needs. This may include shooting for individuals or groups, lunch and/or an overnight stay with us. Please contact us to arrange your perfect experience.

Walking

Howard’s House is surrounded by Wiltshire’s very own secret garden; the Nadder Valley. England at its most natural and serene, the Nadder Valley offers perfect walking country in almost any weather. There is an ample range of both riverside and woodland walks along the valley bottom, and two major routes along the north and south drove roads. Walkers will find various hostelries along the way, offering excellent food and local beers.

Peruse our handmade Walker’s Book, which includes over 25 of our favourite walks, with handy maps to guide your way. Our kitchen can also create picnic hampers or knapsacks to provide some welcome sustenance for your trails.

The varied countryside of the Nadder Valley, peppered with picturesque villages, provides walking to suit all tastes: hikes or strolls, riverside or woodland, fields or hills. Rambling from emerald valleys to ancient woodland, walkers will find here that the quiet beauty of England’s ‘green and pleasant land’ is alive and well.

Wiltshire’s landscape has traditionally been described as ‘chalk and cheese’. The higher areas of rolling downland are the ‘chalk’, while ‘cheese’ refers to the flatter pasture lands of north west Wiltshire and the river valleys of the south with their neutral, clay soils.

Thanks to this natural diversity of habitats, the Nadder Valley teems with wildlife. The rich variety of flora and fauna to be found here is one of several reasons why much of the county is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Ramblers will spot a variety of creatures along their way, from the grazing cows, sheep and horses to river birds and their young, water mammals, field rodents, foxes, hares and rabbits, and if you’re lucky, some of our shyer creatures, such as badgers and several species of deer.

Wiltshire is also of particular significance for several species groups, including farmland birds, barn owls, calcareous and woodland butterflies, bees and bats. The population of Marsh Fritillary butterflies found on Salisbury plain and throughout Wiltshire is a species of national and European importance.

The Nadder Valley’s natural beauty attracts travellers from far and wide. One has only to glimpse the rolling green hills and panoramic plains, the wide valleys and the water meadows, to understand why the landscape here was one of Constable’s most favoured subjects.

The Nadder river itself offers not only stunning walking, but some of England’s finest trout fishing. Within the hamlet of Milton, East Knoyle, lies one of Wiltshire’s famed ‘bluebell woods’ offering one of the UK’s most delightful springtime vistas.

Wiltshire and the Nadder Valley are also home to many Nature Reserves, some of global importance. Wiltshire contains 40% of the world’s chalk grassland, and The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s New Life for Chalk Grassland project is doing significant work towards protecting this environment and its associated wildflowers, birds, mammals and insects.

Situated at the heart of many of the region’s most wonderful and rewarding walks, Howard’s House will provide all the information and guidance you might require for your adventures.

Depending on your chosen route, our safe haven will provide welcome sustenance, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. We’ll also provide delicious bespoke packed lunches should you desire them. There is no better way to appreciate our natural world than to walk within it, and you would be hard pressed to find a better base for your explorations of Wiltshire than Howard’s House Hotel.

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