GOSPORT

Gosport is not a very well known place on the British coast, but for somewhere so untrumpeted there are quite a few interesting spots to visit in the surrounding area. For a start, it hosts the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, where those who are not too subject to claustrophobia can step aboard real submarines to get an idea of what life on board these vessels is like. On the northern edge of Gosport is Fort Brockhurst, one of a number of forts built in the 1800s to protect Portsmouth and its harbour against a French invasion, and now owned by English Heritage. Meanwhile, on the western edge of the town, is Little Woodham, a recreation of a 17th century village taken from a time when the area was on the eve of Civil War, complete with “villagers” dressed in period costume on hand to answer questions and give an insight into the period.

In 2009 the British Parliament was in the grip of a scandal over the expenses claimed by its Members of Parliament. One of the most notorious examples of expenses abuse, so much so that it almost came to symbolise the whole expenses fiasco, was the example of a Scandinavian duck house which had been claimed for on expenses. The Member of Parliament responsible for this disgrace was none other than Sir Peter Viggers, MP for Gosport. Viggers stepped down in 2010 as a result of the investigation into MPs’ expenses.

Map of the area.

Approaching Gosport on a glorious morning in Late spring - geograph.org.uk - 1326417. Photo by Basher Eyre, via Wikimedia Commons.