Three Hampshire Villages

Wander about arcadian gardens full of temples and flowers, delight in twee thatched cottages and thrill to the sight of Red Funnel's hydrofoil in Frank Bealing's colour film

This Hampshire travelogue starts at Breamore Mill on the River Avon before moving to Stourhead Gardens, filled with the picturesque – from classical temples and grotesque follies to a landscape of lakes and flowering shrubs. At Rockbourne we see more vernacular architecture and a dalmatian dog, while at Ibsley, we visit the Old Beam Inn, the River Avon, and more thatched cottages. We end with a shot of Red Funnel's new hydrofoil service setting off for the Isle of Wight.

Frank Bealing, who made this film, was an horticulturalist as well as a keen amateur film maker. His films provide a fascinating record of life in and around Southampton right up to the 1970s. His father set up a nursery business in Southampton that supplied flowers and plants to the White Star Line and later, to Cunard. Plants and flowers on the ill-fated Titanic, were supplied by Bealings. On his father's death in 1941, Frank took over responsibility for the business which, at the time, had to produce food for a nation at war. Bealing became interested in amateur photography and, from the 1930s onwards, film making. Frank's second wife, Nancy, appears in this film.