Chilterns Treasures

27/11/2025

A call-out to all the creatives in the Chilterns to consider submitting artwork to the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize which has as the 2026 theme: Shapes and Shadows. Lots to work with there.
Details below.

27/11/2025

Tomorrow is Bedfordshire Day. A forgettable day in the County calendar celebrated on 28th November, the birthday of famous son John Bunyan (1628 - 1688), preacher and author of a Pilgrim’s Progress.

But this is not about him. We are instead chasing a Celtic chieftain high up on a bluff wedged in between some of the busiest countryside in South East England.

Come with me: https://tinyurl.com/4vykac4u

Friends of Bedfordshire Society The Bedfordshire Project Chilterns Countryside, National Trust Chilterns National Landscape

The image shows Sharpenhoe Clappers on an autumn day.

02/11/2025

Every weekend I think it’ll be the last of the autumn colour…so rush out to walk in Ashridge Estate - National Trust and am rewarded with softer and more intense colours today.
Next weekend it’ll all be gone for sure!

The image shows people walking through the Ashridge Forest along the Boundary Trail.

30/10/2025

The Chiltern Hills have a fair share of hammer horror and headless horsemen, a ghostly drummer boy and satanic monks. What is your Halloween pleasure?

The Chilterns has its fair share of hammer horror and headless horsemen, a ghostly drummer boy and satanic monks. What is your Halloween pleasure?

29/09/2025

Fragility and resilience – these (inedible) porcelain mushrooms look delicate, but they thrive in damp, uninviting woodland, often on decaying beech wood. They are part of unseen networks beneath our feet connecting trees and recycling nutrients. Careful where you sit!

22/09/2025

Today the equinox marks the start of autumn when the earth’s axis is tilted neither towards nor away from the Sun. We’ll notice the shortening days but hopefully cheered by the autumn colour coming our way.

15/07/2025

The origin of some customs have been lost or re-imagined to suit modern tastes and bank holiday dates. Swan Upping is neither. Firmly routed in the 12th century, this annual swan census is necessary for conservation of mute swans and acts as a gentle reminder of who owns them.

The Swan Uppers are back on the River Thames. Read about this important ritual here.

Thames Path National Trail

England is full of quaint customs, some funny and others frankly bizarre. This annual census is both quaint and oddly bizarre.

05/06/2025

So many highlights from my recent long distance hike to Portsmouth, and space too! Vast areas of countryside to myself. Bliss!

Newsletter follows.

21/05/2025

Nature, in this instance bellflowers, always finds a way.

12/05/2025

The clouds are gathering for their first show of the summer season.

11/05/2025

Celebration of with a snap of my local windmill earlier today. A fine example of a post mill located to take advantage of the prevailing wind.