TWO businesswomen in Stockbridge hope they can bring a little touch of the Med to Hampshire by opening a new Italian-inspired store.

Sophie Walters and Jane Young have opened La Bella Donna selling top-end handmade Italian goods, including shoes, handbags, shawls and scarves and jewellery.

Ms Walters said: “Jane and I have worked together in Italy for eight years now, developing houses for the rental market, and in our travels around the beautiful country we have come across so many wonderful things, so we decided to set up a shop selling exclusively Italian products. “All of our manufacturers are family run businesses passed down through the generations. “The work force is predominately family; grandparents, uncles, aunts and siblings. “The common theme when chatting with them is their enormous pride in their product and the heritage of generations of master craftsmen,” Ms Walters said.