RG20

Kingsclere, Highclere, the Ilsleys and the downland villages

Twenty-odd villages spread thinly over a lot of chalk. RG20 is the emptiest district on the patch and the one where telling us exactly where you are matters most.

The roads here are long, quiet and deceptively fast, and the surfaces vary from good to broken within a mile. Around Chieveley, Compton and the Ilsleys the lanes cross the gallops and pick up flint and chalk from tractor and horsebox traffic. Highclere draws visitor traffic down narrow approach roads that were never built for it, and the verges show the damage. Kingsclere sits below the ridge with steep climbs out in three directions. Burghclere, Ecchinswell and Woolton Hill are strung along single-track roads with passing places and deep ditches either side.

A postcode out here can cover several miles of lane. A what3words or a field gate name gets us to the car first time.