Category Archives: Buckinghamshire

The Kingswood Tug Of War

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The ususal tug of war against our next village neighbours never took place.  Sunday the area was prepared.  Nettles were strimmed down, a foot bridge was built over the border-marking brook, and a dam built of corregated iron was placed against the road bridge.  All this was done in the cold, wet rain.  Hopefully the day of the event would be better.

Monday moring, George rang, wondering whether we should cancel the event.  It was still raining, and had been all night.  So we decided it should be cancelled.  Drove down to the border to dismantle the bridge and dam.  On arrival was a little worried our dam building might have been rather too effective, the water was flooding the surrounding fields and was higher than the bridge arch.  Luckily this was not the case; the whole of the river on the other side of bridge was also above the fields.  There was nothing we could do to retrieve the dam on the bridge until the water died down.

 It rained the rest of the day.

Five Arrows – Waddesdon

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Quick trip to Waddesdon Manor to see the Christmas decorations.  Usual good standard, but Steve was begining to find them a bit the same.  Rosemary liked them.

Tried to eat at the Manor, but the resturant was full, so went to the Five Arrows.  Very busy when we arrived, but we were found somewhere to eat.  We ate of the fixed price menu, £15.50 for two courses.  Not a great choice, and we both felt was not very good value for the price.

Steve started with a fillet beef salad with croutons.  Beef cooked very nicely.  The main course was venison bangers and mash.  The sausages where very strong venison flavour, while the mash was very creamy and flaovourless. 

Rosemary amazingly had a fish main course which had changed from the salmon on the menu and a starter of a vegetarian tart, which was more puff pastry than vegetable, but with a good pickle.  She was not overly impressed.

Wotton Underwood Open Day

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Today we went to the Wotton Underwood  open day.  Did not visit the house, we had seen that two years ago.  Instead we rode on the 15 inch railway, taking a ride on on the Steam Powered Train. The track takes you a mile or so through the countryside.

After the ride, we went for a long walk around the lake.  We saw masses of  dragon flies, and fish jumping out catching the low flying dragon flies.  The estate is doing a massive amount of tree planting.  It is very beautiful, quiet and restful around there.

Kingswood Chapel

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Group of us from the village attacked the near derelict chapel, cutting the grass, cutting down the scrub, which was growing up.  We must really find some thing, which can be done to the chapel before it falls down.

First Cut

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Sunday, back at home, so the lawn was cut for the first time this year. Yes life is so exciting. Evening we went around to John and Carol for an excellent supper, and came away with a camera bag for our up coming holiday.  I think this caused John much amusement with my previous opinions on camera bags.  Any way this was very kind of John and Carol.

Aylesbury Business Excellence Awards

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Rosemary and I were invited by Tony to attend the Aylesbury Business Excellence Awards run by The Bucks Herald.  Tony was on the short list for winning the Small Business of the Year award.  Tony owns Ladymead Joinery and specialises in top quality hardwood windows, doors, staircases and fencing. 

The event was a black tie dinner and awards ceremony at the Aylesbury Civic Centre.  Amazingly the trousers appeared not to have unduly shrunk in the wardrobe since they were last worn. The meal was a four-course meal, (Chicken and Smoked Bacon Salad, Lamb, Profiteroles and Cheese) with wine, and various speeches.  Our waitress was not a young thing, but was very proficient and quite a character.  The main entertainment was the impressionist, Steve Nallon from the TV show Splitting Image.  He provided us with the voices of Tony Blair, Anne Widdecombe, Alan Bennett and many other politicians and entertainers.  Dez Kay from Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio was the Master of Ceremonies.

After the ceremony, the disco started, hosted by Phil Gomm.  At which stage we decamped to the bar and some quiet.  Though I could have stayed and watched for hours, admiring the hairdressers from Destiny Hair Designs and the Bucks Herald girls dance.  Did though have a chat with Adstock Web who speacialise in Web solutions and search engine Optimisation,  who alas failed to win the innovation award, which went to Littlecote Soap Company.

Well did Ladymead Joinery come top of its class?  Of course they did!!  Their craftsmanship and customer service delivered by Tony Clark and his team make Ladymead Joinery a worthy winner.

Ladymead Joinery

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Saturday, time to go home.  I caught the train from Edinburgh back to Birmingham to pick up my car.  The trip was just over four hours and gave me the opportunity for a few hours extra sleep.  The route was through Lockerbie, Penrith, Carlisle, Lancaster, and Birmingham.

Once home, quick wash and over to the Plough and Anchor before setting out to Bishopstone for Rosemary’s Christmas party.  This was being held in a marquee, and was hosting several companies.  We were going as part of LadyMead Joinery. a company which does bespoke windows, staircases , gates, fencing and other projects.  The weather was cold, and the space heaters heated the top half of you, but left the feet cold.  I had an excellent dance with Rosemary to a covers band called Chemistry

Wallis and Gromit

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Sunday saw us in Aylesbury to see the new Wallis and Gromit film the Curse of the Were Rabbit.  The film was enjoyable, but not as good as the previous films, probably because most of the gags had been performed before.

After the film we went to Waddesdon Manor and visited the house which had been decorated with Christmas trees.  This is their usual Christmas event.  This year the theme was the Three Kings.

Wedding Anniversary

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Well at least almost the correct day, one day early.  We went to the Plough and Anchor for a meal.  Very good meal.  Lashed out on a bottle of Champagne, which I ordered while Rosemary was otherwise engaged.

Rosemary thought the restaurant owner was very rude opening the bottle of Veuve ClicQuot for another table at the spare setting on our table.  That was until he poured the glasses and handed Rosemary her glass.

Eric Gill

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Today we had a Cambridge Society talk on the Artist Eric Gill, by Nick Wheeler-Robinson.  Nick is the owner of the Piggotts house and workshop which Eric Gill last lived and worked in before he died.  Eric Gill was an artist, engraver and sculptor and the inventor of several type faces.  I see Word on my PC has Gill Sans which is one of his type faces.

Gill’s work reflects his strong belief in both Roman Catholicism and promiscuity.  At Piggotts, his ménage included a wife, at least two pupil/model/mistress/muses, and a priest, probably a much needed confessor.  Gill seems to have lived life to the full.

Piggotts was bought by Nicks father from Eric Gills family in 1963.  The place has been used since to live in, and provide a place where musicians are invited to come and play.  From Easter through to November there are people camping in the fields, rehearsing music and then playing it on Sunday.  They are a mixture of professional and amateur musicians.  This Sunday they were playing Utopia Ltd’ by Gilbert & Sullivan.  Next weekend it is the Planets.

After the talk and guided tour of the buildings, we took a walk through the bluebell woods and then had a BBQ in the woods.

I’m afraid we did not listen to the music, leaving just as it started.

The buildings in which Gill worked were old farmyard barns, some converted to strengthen the flooring to take the weight of the stones.  The were all very cold and draughty in winter.  He had many apprentices who brought in money by engraving grave stones.

We heard a lovely story about a grass roller, made from stone, which had been thought to have been carved by Gill.  It had been sold for £50,000 to Leeds University.  One of the apprentices (Kindersley) when visiting Nick, after the roller had been sold, said he had carved it as a training exercise.  The money was used to purchase 30 acres of woodland adjoining the house.