Alert Underground Reader Rufus knows the English chalkstreams are the stuff of legend; many regard the Test and Ichen as the birthplaces of modern fly fishing.

For only 9 million Pounds (1 Pound = approx $2 US dollars), a mile of it can be yours:

Winding for 40 miles through beautiful Hampshire countryside, from the hamlet of Ashe, near Basingstoke, to Southampton Water, the River Test is known across the world for the quality of its chalk-stream fishing. Now you can have a mile of that fishing all to yourself – provided you have £9m, that is.

The stretch of river, with its weirs, glides and riffles, runs through the 173 acres of manicured lawns and lush parkland of Longparish House, one of the most expensive properties in the county, on sale for the first time in 15 years.

If I didn’t already own country estates in dozens of other countries, frankly, I’d consider it.

Still — and despite the fact the property is half the planet away — I find something familiar in the real estate manager’s pitch:

“It is a significant and important enough house to attract an international buyer, but its rural location and typical English fishing will appeal to a successful City type with his family.”

It’s pretty much what we hear about the better places up here, which are being sold by their local owners to folks who visit them infrequently — the kind of thing that changes a community.

See you at the real estate office, Tom Chandler.