Straddling a busy crossroads on the Andover-Newbury road, Hurstbourne Tarrant has many very fine buildings, including thatched cottages, elegant village houses and the George and Dragon Inn.
 
Hurstbourne Tarrant is close to the start for two long distance paths - the Test Way (46 miles) and the Wayfarers' Walk (70 miles). The Test Way starts near the ancient gallows at Coombe Gibbet and passes through Linkenholt and along old farm tracks which come out at the attractive hamlet of Ibthorpe before following the bed of a winter bourne down to Hurstbourne Tarrant, about ten miles from the start.
 
Jane Austen was a visitor to Ibthorpe, home of her friends Martha as Mary Lloyd. The famous Shakespearian actor Donald Wolfitt is buried in the churchyard at Hurstbourne.