Cricket in fiction was particularly true in the era before the Second World War, for example, during the Edwardian era, and in the 1920s and 1930s. An early chapter of Dickens's famous first novel "The Pickwick Papers", serialised as early as 1836, features a brief description of a cricket match between the All-Muggleton team and the Dingley Dell Cricket Club. Mr Pickwick watches as Mr Jingle provides a running commentary on the game (""Capital game—smart sport—fine exercise—very"" is a typical Jingle comment.) Cricket also plays a prominent part in "Tom Brown's Schooldays" (1857), Thomas Hughes' classic novel of life at Rugby. A century
Manor Farm Country Park Manor Farm Country Park Manor Farm Country Park, formerly Upper Hamble Country Park, runs along the west bank of the River Hamble between the villages of Botley and Bursledon in Hampshire at . It is a Local Nature Reserve. The park first opened in 1979. In 1984, the Manor Farm museum was opened. The museum site was once at the heart of the village of Botley. The ancient duckpond in Manor Farm and the neighbouring St Batholomew's Church are mentioned in the Domesday book. There is evidence of a Roman road running through the site, which would have been the