Tag: hertfordshire
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Tree Routes
If a tree falls in Ashridge Forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Shaking myself out of the winter slumber, I headed into Ashridge during the recent unseasonably warm weather. The forest was full with noisy life shaking off a winter slumber. The ambient light is washed out […]
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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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Tring in Spring
Tring Park is a vast green space that merges comfortably with the market town of Tring, in the northern Chilterns. I am regular visitor to Tring Park where I take Leo and meet with friends to walk. This spring, I have been exploring new routes around the 260 acres, and have discovered paths tucked away […]
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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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Of Buddhists’ and Beechwoods
In my day job I say ‘to expect the unexpected’ when visiting the Chilterns, but this outing really is the unexpected! In this quiet corner of the northern Chilterns, in St Margarets, Great Gaddesden you will find the Amaravati Buddhist monastery. I had joined a mindfulness walk during our Chilterns Walking Festival that would take […]
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People Watching in Purple
Not just for old ladies, these fields of Chilterns lavender will delight almost everyone. This, the northernmost town in the Chilterns, is probably the least well known of our market towns. In existence since at least the eighth century, Hitchin is one of the oldest towns in the county of Hertfordshire. Much sought after as […]
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The castle that time forgot
Seen mostly from Chilterns commuter trains, I expect Berkhamsted castle is one of those landmarks that is no longer noticed. It has disappeared into the landscape. My straw pole revealed a distant lack of awareness when asked when was the last time they visited Berkhamsted castle? “Not for ages”“Is that the one near the station..?”“I […]
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Reclaiming our Castles
Nooks, brick tiles and a fireplace survive, their purpose clear, but place in amongst the lumps of stone unclear. Earthworks and a moat surround the site including an extensive embankment upon which the West Midlands railway service thunders, this place a microcosm of English history;