Tag: chilterns village
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Shillington Village
An unassuming county, Bedfordshire and the northern Chilterns with their intriguing place names, unusual geology and landscape history, is worth your time.
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The Chilterns at Halloween
The Chilterns has its fair share of ghosts; headless horsemen, a ghost who packs guests’ suitcases, others who like a drink at the bar, another who will pinch your bum, green men, shadowy figures loitering in places unexpected, a mummified hand, a request for help from a disembodied voice are all enough to get you […]
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Beautiful Barton Hills
Just when you think you’ve enjoyed most of the beauty that the Chilterns has to offer, two special locations come along in the same week. The Amaravati Buddhist monastery and Barton Hills National Nature Reserve (NNR). My exploration of the northern Chilterns have thrown up some lovely surprises including; Someries Castle with its very own […]
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A Social Experiment
Beside his grave, pebbles are left by visitors from North America, two of whom had to be stopped from attempting to exhume his remains as they wished them to be reinterred in the state capital. There’s something about the Chilterns that over the centuries, attracted both political dissenters and religious non-conformers who met and worshiped […]
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Almshouses: a social history
Almshouses are a fascinating curiosity left over from an age when the poor and destitute would typically fall through the gaps as universal care as we know it, did not exist. You will find almshouses in the centre of busy towns, on high streets, beside churches or tucked away in the corner of a field, […]
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Charming Chess Valley
Even in this tiny corner of England, the scene could not be further from the rugged South African veld, vernacular and culture, yet, likes threads in a well-worn carpet, our stories are interwoven right across the world and far back into our history, which for me spans both England and South Africa.
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Mind the Swan Uppers!
A hot July afternoon beside the river Thames at Marlow is always to be savoured. Panting dogs, bored children, enthusiastic pensioners, white linen-clad ladies, zoom lenses and bulging picnic hampers in evidence. We are gathered to see HM Queen’s procession of Swan Uppers!
