on the former site of Complins estate and brewery. Post-war In 1947 the Bentworth Hall estate was bought by Major Herbert Cecil Benyon Berens, who was a director of Hambros Bank in London from 1968. In 1950 Berens built two new lodge houses at the junction of the drive to Bentworth Hall towards the main road through the village. The Berens family arms included a bear, and when Berens acquired the Bentworth Hall estate, carvings of bears were put up in various places. Two of which can be seen at the entrance to the Bentworth Hall drive, between the two lodge houses. Herbert Berens died on 27 October 1981, and the remaining estate was put up for sale. Initially Bentworth Hall was offered as a single property, but its outbuildings were divided into a number of separate dwelling units and other parts were sold to local farms. In June 1982, the Bentworth Conservation Area was established, incorporating many of the local buildings of note, extending along the main lane and around the church. Bentworth was awarded a gold postbox in 2012 after Peter Charles, a resident of the village, won a gold medal in the equestrian event of the 2012 Summer Olympics. A postbox in Alton was incorrectly painted gold in Charles' honour, until the Royal Mail later painted the correct postbox in Bentworth. Governance In elections for the United Kingdom national parliament, Bentworth is in the constituency of East Hampshire, which since May 2010 has been represented by Damian Hinds of the Conservative Party. In local government, Bentworth is governed by Hampshire County Council at the highest tier, East Hampshire District Council at the middle tier, and Bentworth Parish Council at the lowest tier. In County Council elections Hampshire is divided into 75 electoral divisions that return a total of 78 councillors; Bentworth is in Alton Rural Electoral Division. In district council elections East Hampshire is divided into 38 electoral wards that return a total of 44 councillors; Bentworth is in the Bentworth and Froyle Ward, together with the parishes of Lasham, Shalden, Wield and Froyle. Geography Bentworth village and parish lies on high downland about northwest of the town of Alton and about 8 miles south of Basingstoke, the largest town in the non-metropolitan county of Hampshire. By road, Bentworth is situated south of Basingstoke, northeast of the county town of Winchester and north of Portsmouth. The parish