River Nadder

A quieter jewel in Wiltshire’s chalkstream crown, the River Nadder rewards fly fishers seeking a break from the busier chalkstreams. Rising on the chalk slopes near Shaftesbury, the Nadder slips eastward to meet the Wylye and later the Avon at Salisbury,

Its waters glide clear over flint and gravel, tumbling between heads of ranunculus and water parsnip, tracing the contours of the Nadder Valley as it threads past mellow stone cottages, and tumbles beneath ancient oaks and old stone bridges. 

In spring and early summer the meadows hum softly with life; mayfly and olive lift from the surface in trembling clouds, and all the while sheep graze lazily in the fields all around. This is quintessential rural Wiltshire.

While it rises from the chalk aquifers, there is some debate as to whether the Nadder is a chalkstream at all, as it washes over limestone during its eastward journey. Nevertheless, the fishing and fly life is chalkstreamy enough for us.