A spontaneous day out in Hampshire helped out by an Instagram feature that I’ve recently become a massive fan of – the Explore tab.
Sunshine and the prospect of a lazy Saturday exploring the local area to find new hidden gems could be one of my favourite ways to spend a day. Living about 30-40 minutes from Winchester, we often find ourselves spending the weekend in this lovely city, popping into our favourite shop – The Hambledon and stopping for a spot of lunch or a cup of tea in the historic town centre.
This month, we decided it would be lovely to try somewhere new and this is where my trusty Instagram app came in handy! Using the Explore tab, you are able to look at the photos that were taken in a particular town, city or location, or better still, around you. Browsing through other people’s Instagram snaps we found shots of Winchester Coffee Lab, a cool coffee chain we’d visited in Southampton so decided to give it a visit.
With a large selection of herbal teas (a firm favourite) and a beautiful cake display that left us feeling spoilt for choice, what wasn’t to love about our new find? What’s even better is that Instagram had even given us a map of the exact location where the photo was taken, so it was super quick and easy to find our way to cake paradise in no time!
So after our sugar-fuelled pit stop, we decided to put the app further to the test. I’d recently seen on Instagram that loads of people were posting beautiful snapshots of gorgeous, bright yellow rapeseed fields and had always wanted to swing by one to take some snaps and enjoy a countryside walk next to these beautiful seasonal blooms. Within a few seconds, I found pictures posted a few minutes and hours earlier that day of these beautiful fields of gold – many of which I noticed were tagged at ‘Cheesefoot Head’, only 7 minutes away. We hopped in the car and followed the map to a car park overlooking rolling green Hampshire hills spotting the expanse of yellow.
Cheesefoot Head was the perfect place to enjoy a walk, with birds singing, an easy to follow footpath, and 360-degree views of nature, it was a great find! I found myself taking many a snap to then share on Instagram myself, almost completing the circle and enabling new people to find this previously hidden gem!
Looking ahead, Instagram’s Explore tab is introducing new location and hashtag stickers for Instagram stories, so there will be plenty more opportunities to find friends and followers favourite hangouts near where you are. “You’ll see a new story ring at the top of Explore filled with stories happening near you. These stories come from people who have used location stickers on their stories. You can also search for any location around the world, and you’ll see a story ring for that place at the top of the location page.”
I’m looking forward to trying the tab when I’m next on holiday to see what lovely sights I can find off the beaten track!
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