As this blog expands, I thought it may help to group information by north, central and southern Chilterns.
The Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and western Hertfordshire Chilterns has a mixed landscape of extensive Ashridge woodland, Dunstable downs, a Norman castle, former quarries, market towns and the Grand Union Canal. A veritable feast.
Here are links to the stories from the area.
Tring Park is a vast green space that merges comfortably with the market town of Tring. It also successfully merges the central and northern Chilterns.
A day to gladden the heart! Despite the continuing lockdown, Ashridge Forest offers plenty of space and the guaranteed distance now needed for enjoying the great outdoors.
The inland waterways are symbolic of the Chilterns; neither shouts about achievements; both are modest, quietly getting on with ensuring livelihoods can continue and now leisure is enjoyed. Both are treasured. The Grand Union Canal.
A virtuous circle: life became rock that supported our lives, literally, and has once again become abundant life. Chilterns Chalk.
Tucked away down a long corridor, up two spiral flights you will find the quiet lobby and entrance to the new Rothschild Treasury, Waddesdon Manor. A treasure trove in what was once described as a ‘maids bedroom’ no less.
Just how did the Wall Street Crash of 1929 save a tiny Chilterns village?
When I started writing this blog, I was uncertain how I would maintain momentum, focused as I am, on one region. Would I struggle to find enough to write about, or would my inspiration dwindle? West Wycombe Park helped!
All around are signs of past lives; graves in the shape of wool sacks, an 18th water pump, window openings at unhelpful heights and a red lion above a lintel where a pub used to be. A is for Amersham.
Seen mostly from commuter trains, I expect Berkhamsted castle is one of those landmarks that is no longer noticed. It has disappeared into the landscape. The castle that time forgot.
Just like an antique rug, with unravelled threads, blemishes, bald patches and stains, once you begin to look, you see these Ashridge threads in fact link across the Chilterns, even the nation, presenting a tantalising picture of this wonderful place and its story. Ashridge House and Gardens.
At first drive-through, this busy Buckinghamshire town is not a pretty sight. Aylesbury is a town that has kept its historic heart well and truly hidden, marooned on a little island cut off by busy roads full of traffic rushing through on their way elsewhere.
The 300-year old Lacey Green Windmill stands on the escarpment of the Chiltern Hills, near Princes Risborough, and is possibly the most famous for being England’s oldest smock mill.
How a wild boy without a birth name, who was found in a German forest, was adopted by an English king and came to live in the #Chilterns, is an astonishing story. Peter the Wild Boy.
In a sleepy Buckinghamshire village, you’ll discover the heady mix of local legend, the shadow of a ghost, a hermit and royal executioner. Dinton Hermit.
The co-owners of this remarkable building, have moved heaven and earth to ensure these treasures have not been lost to property developers or simply careless conservation. They are custodians of medieval history in the Chilterns and they do so without funding nor support. A cautionary tale.
A microcosm of a Chilterns village, Bledlow is a blip on the landscape, but very much shaped by it.
