For most of the area, no, and for a slice of it beside the water, yes. Stockbridge sits astride the River Test, and living next to a famous chalk stream comes with the obvious asterisk: the river that makes the town also defines where the risk sits. The large majority of homes here are on ground that river and sea flood maps leave alone. A minority near the valley floor are not. Which category your house falls into matters far more than any figure for the town as a whole.
Taking river and coastal flooding first, the higher-risk zones cover a small part of the area. Roughly three percent of the area falls within the medium river-flood zone, and a similar three percent within the highest zone, the ground closest to the Test where flooding is most likely. That is a modest share overall, but it clusters tightly along the water rather than spreading evenly, so an average across the whole place understates the risk for the riverside homes and overstates it for everyone up the slope. The map, not the headline, is the thing to read.
Surface-water flooding, the kind that comes from heavy rain overwhelming drains and running off the surrounding downs rather than from the river itself, is the more widespread concern. Around one in ten postcodes here carry some higher surface-water or river risk, and roughly one in five carry at least a low level of it. In a valley ringed by chalk hills that is no surprise, since water arriving off high ground has to go somewhere, and gardens, lanes and low corners are where it collects. It is worth checking how a specific property sits relative to the slope before assuming a dry plot.
Looking forward, the climate allowance nudges the exposure up. Once the maps factor in projected climate change, the share of the area sitting in the higher-risk flood zone rises to about seven to eight percent, more than double the figure without it. That is the direction of travel for anywhere built beside a river, and it is a reason to treat a riverside purchase as a decision about the next few decades rather than the next few winters.
For insurance, the split matters again. Homes clear of the flood zones should find cover straightforward and priced like any other rural house. Homes on the riverside ground are a different conversation, where the premium, the excess, and the questions on the application form all get heavier, and where the government-backed flood insurance scheme may be the thing making cover affordable at all. The practical step is to get a specific quote for the specific address before exchange, because a general assumption about the town tells you nothing about the house you are actually buying.
The honest verdict is middling and location-dependent. Flood risk here is not a reason to avoid Stockbridge, but it is a reason to read the map street by street, because the difference between a safe plot and a risky one can be a matter of a few metres down toward the Test. Buy on the high ground and forget about it. Buy by the water and go in with your eyes open.