The Club has been at its Owslebury location for nearly thirty years. Our boules terrain is in the grounds of the Ship Inn, bordering beautiful countryside and having ready access to the excellent pub, details here. There is plenty of parking in the pub car park.
Our members tend to come from the Winchester/Southampton area but some travel from further afield. Weather permitting, we meet year-round on Thursday evenings and Sunday mornings for practice sessions which usually involve an informal melee (a competition in which players enter as individuals and are put together into teams of 2 or 3 by means of a random draw for each game). We are as much a social club as a sports one and after practice we usually relax over a drink in the Ship. We also participate in boules competitions over the summer season, organised by our regional Pétanque Association, the SCPA (details here). We usually take part in two SCPA summer leagues (see our teams) and also in the Winter Indoor League. The Club has an annual competition against Crondall Pétanque Club – the “Fox and Hounds” – which is always an enjoyable fixture. There are also many Club competitions in the region throughout the year which some of our members enter.
Our (mostly) level terrain is about 27 x 12 metres, comprising fine grit on a firm base though this year (2023) we are carrying out maintenance work on the playing surface which will introduce a bit more surface variety. We have players of all abilities, ranging from absolute beginners to experienced League players.
