Suburban Safari: Hythe of activity

by Katie Isham. Right gang, buckle up: we’ve got three modes of transport to conquer in a very short distance. Ferries, trains and those trusted wandering shoes.  Town Quay starts the adventure. Located at the bottom of Southampton High Street, it’s the home of Southampton’s ferries. Bypass those Isle...

Suburban Safari: Our Common Ground 

by Katie Isham. The Common. Such a place that needs the grand definite article to herald its arrival. I’ve thought long and hard about a Suburban Safari to take in The Common but it’s impossible to capture in a singular visit. You could have a daily walk on The...

Suburban Safari: Anyone for Tennis?  

words and pictures by Katie Isham. A Suburban Safari should be a chance to explore another side to favourite locations; to make time to appreciate the beauty in the everyday steps taken. But also, provide joy in finding a hidden surprise amongst the familiar. And most significantly, to observe...

Suburban Safari: Life and Death in Romsey

by Katie Isham. Start this exploration in the centre of Romsey, the market town northwest of Southampton. Don’t worry though, we’re not staying amongst the hustle and bustle of the town centre. We’re heading out to the suburbs.  From the centre, travel east along The Hundred, one of the...

Suburban Safari: Netley Abbey

by Katie Isham. When everything is busy and life is loud, there are few better places to go wander than around the walls of a thirteenth century monastery, especially when the roof is now cobalt blue skies pouring down from heaven to light your walk through the crumbling walls. ...

Suburban Safari: City of Magnolias 

by Katie Isham. Safari today not to a specific place, but to a moment, a fleeting moment at that; a slice of existence right now, to the glorious zeitgeist of blooms and blue skies before the March winds rally and leave our loves strewn across the ground to become...

Suburban Safari: The Forest of the Future 

by Katie Isham. This may seem like a rural safari, but we’re just ahead of the curve. The suburbs are coming. Out on the periphery of Southampton, on the other bank of the River Hamble, housing estates are multiplying, stealing space from green fields for our ever-increasing population. The...