Bradt prides itself on publishing books that offer genuine insight – that give the local view, if you will. This year we’ve taken that philosophy a step further by focusing on our own backyard: the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire. We’ve published not only a Slow Travel Guide to the Chilterns & the Thames Valley (by Helen and Neil Matthews) but The Country of Larks: A Chiltern Journey (by Gail Simmons). Then someone in the office suggested we take it one step further still! And so we closed the doors at Bradt HQ and joined the books’ authors to explore a little bit of the area. These articles tell the story of our day out in and around the beautiful riverside town of Henley. We hope they persuade you to follow in our footsteps. You can read about some of the locations that feature in the world’s best-known detective series, which we visited on a fascinating Midsomer Murders tour with walking guide Sarah Osborne. Everyone knows there’s nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats, so we took a cruise on Hobbs of Henley’s elegant Hibernia and heard some of the stories about life along the river bank. Next stop was the nearby River and Rowing Museum, which contains a host of colourful displays about the history of the Thames, as well as a charming exhibition devoted to Kenneth Grahame’s much-loved Wind in the Willows .
We stretched our legs with a hike through the shady woodland – and muddy fields – around the National Trust’s Greys Court estate, and then rounded things off with much-anticipated pints and pies at The Maltsters Arms (which is the very picture of a welcoming country pub).
Thank you to Annette Weiss of the Chilterns Tourism Network for helping us to set up the trip. Here’s your template for a perfect day out in the Chilterns.
