Monthly Archives: March 2012

Litter Pick on 31 March

There will be a litter pick taking place on Saturday 31 March.  Hi visibility jackets and all the necessary picking equipment will be supplied.  All those interested in helping to keep the village tidy please meet at The Harrow at 10:30.  It is expected to take about 2 hours and will finish back at The Harrow for some well deserved refreshment.

Hughenden Manor woodland walks


From the National Trust

Do you like a good healthy walk in one of the most picturesque parts of the English countryside? If you do you will be delighted to hear that The National Trust has just launched a brand new pocket-sized walks leaflet for the way-marked woodland walks around the Hughenden Manor Estate.

The leaflet is available free of charge and can be obtained from the Booking Office in the Stables Courtyard and also from many of the local shops and public houses in the vicinity. You can even find supplies at the Doctors’ Surgery and also the Hughenden Community Shop. Click on the image to view or download the leaflet.

This leaflet is the brainchild of a Hughenden Valley resident Paul Cawte, who you may recall was until recently the Chairman of the Residents Association and has been a Volunteer Warden at the National Trust for the past four years. “My responsibility is to patrol designated footpaths around the woods assisted by my buddy Jules Birch, to make sure that they are safe for walkers and do not become obstructed by fallen trees or other debris.” explained Paul. He continued “I always carry a small digital camera to take photographs of remarkable of interesting sights that I discover on my patrols. A number of these photographs have now been included in the new Hughenden Woodland Walks leaflet along with a comprehensive map and sets of descriptions of the four main way-marked walks.”

Paul, who is also a member of the Volunteer Council at Hughenden Manor, was asked by Jim Foy, the General Manager, to pull together a small team comprising volunteers John and Wendy Riddell and Hazel Clarke. Also part of the team was local designer Stephen Prickett, who produced the finished design for the leaflet. Together, they worked alongside Steve Kirkpatrick, the Hughenden Warden, to arrive at what is an attractive and very useful guide to one of out most treasured local amenities.

Paul and his colleagues at the Trust say that they would like to see as many Hughenden Residents as possible this year taking advantage of the opportunity to take regular healthy walk and enjoying the sights and sounds of the countryside. “It is free and there is a very good restaurant at the Stables Courtyard, and also a well as a well-stocked National Trust shop and a second-hand bookshop, so why not try it? – you can’t go wrong.” say Paul.

Valley Wives March Meeting Report

From Joan Steel

Margaret chaired our meeting and made the annoucements followed by welcoming Mr Gorden Massey our speaker who gave a slide talk entitled “Portsmouth to Bacelona Cruise” which was on the Saga ship “Spirit of Adventure ” in 2009. It carried 350 passengers and so had the advantage of being small enough to sail up rivers. The slides showed a map of the journey so that we could follow the route and later showed fine pictures of all the major features of interest seen in the towns and countryside on the way to Barcelona eg. monuments, bridges, gardens.museums ,canals and many examples of architecture both ancient and modern. The final berth was at the huge cruise liner terminal at Barcelona which can accept twelve liners per day bringing as many as fifty thousand visitors to the city. The amazing Cathedral is a focal point with its stunning architecture. It was founded in 1856 as a modest chapel and has become something that has to be seen to be believed, with its many facades and towers. Members who haven’t been to this wonderful place felt a desire to visit it especially, to also travel there in the same luxurious way! Norma proposed the vote of thanks for a most interesting talk and for the small bursts of appropriate music that accompanied the slides.

Next meeting is on the 13th of April,the title of which is ” Tales of the Unexpected” by Alan Copeland. The competition is for an item beginning with N. Josie was our winner last month with letter J.