Petersfield Visitors Guide

Petersfield is a market town in East Hampshire and is one of the largest towns in the South Downs National Park.

Petersfield is 17 miles north of Portsmouth, on the main A3 trunk route to London. The A272 from Winchester to Midhurst joins with the A3 on the outskirts of Petersfield.

Petersfield has a railway station on the main line from London to Portsmouth. Three trains per hour in both directions are operated by South West Trains.

Petersfield is situated on the northern slopes of the South Downs, with Butser Hill, the highest hill in the Hampshire South Downs, visible from almost any point in the town.

Petersfield has a number of independent retailers, with shops centred around the Market Square, the High Street, Chapel Street and Lavant Street.

On the South East side of the town is Petersfield Heath, 95 acres of heathland including woodland, grassland, a boating lake, and a picnic and recreation area suitable for children. Petersfield Heath is registered as a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation and the Heath also contains 21 Bronze Age barrows which together provide the site with Scheduled Ancient Monument status.

Just to the South of Petersfield is Queen Elizabeth Country Park, which incorporates Butser Hill, and has a wide variety of scenery from chalk hills to pine forest. The Hangers Way footpath runs from the country park, through Petersfield and on to Alton.

Petersfield has a number of pubs and a large number of coffee shops, from the chains of Costa Coffee and Cafe Nero to independent coffee shops like Cloisters in the Market Square (the building occupied by Cloisters was previously the Gentlemen's toilets but has been skillfully converted to a small attractive restaurant.

Petersfield is twinned with Barentin in France, and Warendorf in Germany