This Chilterns travel blog is only about the naturally outstanding Chiltern Hills and neighbouring villages and favourite places.
The Chilterns are not a place name you’d perhaps recognise, despite being located in the distinctive green space between London’s Metroland and Oxford. And therein lies the appeal; having the place to myself most days…well almost!
I have spent three years capturing local moods, the magnificent and the mundane, searching for what makes this Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty distinctive and special. I never go for the obvious. Instead, I look to capture a moment that will most likely be gone the next time I visit. I delight that I keep discovering new and wonderful things about the Chilterns. No two visits are the same. I visit historic landscapes, busy town centres, castles, country houses, farms, quiet graveyards and tucked-away churches. A masterplan there is not, only to listen, look and share the stories that are all around us.
I have presented the content by season and highlighting the quirky stuff, which you will find in the menu tab above. I have subsequently added content by what you will find in the south, central and northern Chilterns.
What makes the Chilterns distinctive?
Every destination makes claims to being unique. Some of these claims are outrageous, others are lazy and some, manage to get it right. I strive for the last category because I spend time visiting each place I write about (sometimes multiple visits), making the effort to get to know, understand and recognise the sometimes barely visible threads that when woven together, make up the story of the Chiltern Hills.
The heritage that includes; the great, the quirky, a dash of holy relics and unique traditions like swan upping, a school master and his three books, even hellfire on a hill!
Produce and industry – watercress, ladies in lavender, gentle giants on the Chiltern ridges, the beautiful Baron Hills and arts and crafts
The seasons of course. Words, local sayings, myths and legends, jokes and quirky anecdotes, love these!
Natural landscape features and man-made stuff; a musical encounter, cricket pitches the Chilterns in miniature, quarries, Chilterns churches, airports, castles, grand houses and one of my favourites, the almshouses.
This travel blog will most likely never be completed. I will keep on adding to it as I visit new and revisit familiar and favourite places. These are my views, my photographs (unless otherwise stated), my adventures and copyright of Mary Tebje.
Get in touch
If you have any ideas and suggestions for places in the Chilterns you think I should like to visit, then please get in touch on the ‘contact me’ page and to learn more about the writing team.
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