Coordinates: 51°00′14″N 0°56′04″W / 51.00377°N 0.93453°W / 51.00377; -0.93453

Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 17 miles (27 km) north of Portsmouth, on the A3 road. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct Line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth and London. The town is situated on the northern slopes of the South Downs. Petersfield lies wholly within the South Downs National Park. The town is on the crossroads of well-used north–south (today the A3 road) and east–west routes (today the A272 road) and it grew as a coach stop on the Portsmouth to London route. Petersfield is twinned with Barentin in France, and Warendorf in Germany.

The town was founded during the 12th century by William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester, later chartered by his widow, Hawise de Beaumont, and confirmed by charter in 1198 from "John, Count of Mortain" (later to be King John). In 1415 King Henry V granted the burgesses of Petersfield freedom from toll, stallage, picage, pannage, murage, and pontage throughout the realm of England. All charters are preserved in the archive files at Petersfield Town Council.

Hampshire (ⁱ/ˈhæmpʃɪər/ or /ˈhæmpʃər/; abbreviated Hants) is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, the former capital city of England. Hampshire is the most populous ceremonial county in the United Kingdom and if excluding newly formed metropolitan counties such as the West Midlands, Hampshire would be the most populous county in the whole of the United Kingdom. Hampshire is notable for housing the birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force. The ceremonial county borders Dorset to the west, Wiltshire to the north-west, Berkshire to the north, Surrey to the north-east, and West Sussex to the east. The southern boundary is the coastline of the English Channel and The Solent.

Hampshire is the largest county in South East England and the third largest shire county in the United Kingdom despite losing more land than any other English county during the Local Government Act 1972 boundary changes. At its greatest size in 1889, Hampshire was the fifth largest county in England. It now has an overall area of 3,700 square kilometres (1,400 sq mi), and measures approximately 86 kilometres (53 mi) east–west and 76 kilometres (47 mi) north–south.

Polly Paulusma ( /ˈpɔːlzmə/) is an English singer-songwriter. Her first album, Scissors in my Pocket, was largely recorded and produced by herself at her home. A second album, Cosmic Rosy Spine Kites (a virtual anagram of the title of the first album) features the same tracks, four of which were recorded with a string quartet (and without guitars or percussion); the rest at a gig in Manchester, England, where she supported Jamie Cullum. Apart from Jamie Cullum she has also supported other artists on tour including Marianne Faithfull and Coldplay and played at the Glastonbury Festival in 2005.

As well as using computer-based methods to self-produce her first album, Polly and her management have arguably made good use of the internet and contemporary methods of distribution to reach a larger potential audience: signed to One Little Indian Records, two of Polly's tracks ("Over the Hill" and the live version of "She Moves in Secret Ways") were issued as free downloads through Apple's iTunes Store. This has possibly led to greater exposure for a niche artist on a UK-based independent record label than might otherwise have been expected or previously possible. Polly has also used her profile at MySpace.com, her own website, blogs on both websites and a link to a forum on the latter to connect with her fans and keep them up-to-date on her touring and recording plans.