Location

Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, OS Explorer 181.

I parked in the parking lot near the A413 and walked back across the big road and then past Springfield Farm to Lee Common. Then I made a bend around Ballinger and walked back to Great Missenden. This took slightly less than three hours, including time for photographing.

This is a rather densely populated part of the Chilterns, probably because of the relatively easy commute to London. More than ordinarily my pictures are of things connected to human activities. I also got the chance to use the macro function on my camera some. It works amazingly well on plants.

Click on the images to see larger versions.

Spring is in the air and the hazel is in flower. You can also see that it's windy from the way the flowers sway.

The first leaves of a bluebell peeping up between the old beech leaves on the forest floor. Soon this little guy and his cousins are going to paint the English countryside blue. Am I ever looking forward to that!

Yet another sign of spring. I found these snowdrops growing under a hedge at the edge of the footpath. It's also another sign of humans - snowdrops don't show up unless someone plants them.

More human activity. It's not all that often that you see postboxes from the Victorian era. But this one, set in the wall of a house near Springfield Farm has survived. As you can see, it is still in use.

Just imagine all the emotions that have passed through its mouth and out into the world. How many love letters, how many overdue bill payments, maybe a chapter by a famous novelist, definitely an MP's speech... I wished that I had had a letter to be posted on me. Even if it was just a request for a catalogue I would have liked to be part of this living history.

This vista may not be very dramatic but the reason I'm including it is really the bench that looks out over it. There's a plaque fastened to it that reads "In memory of Emily Morris, 1891-1976, and her daughter Nora Ankerson, 1915-1984." Below it another plaque has been added that says "also her daughter Margaret Simpson, 1913-1994."

Again, human habitation and human emotions. Did the three of them sit here and look out over the landscape? Did they talk about things great and small? Did they come here through joy and sorrow, childbirth and death? Are there more sisters than Margaret and Nora? Who put up the second plaque? And will there be a third?

This pudgy water tower sits on the ridge between Great Missenden and Lee. I found the structure somehow touching. It is essentially a utilitarian building but still some effort has been put into making it look nice. Unfortunately I don't think it's in use any more. It belongs to Three Valley Water and is called the Lee Tower according to a sign on the other side.

Rapidly changing cloud formations make for dramatic sunsets. Seeing it through the trees makes it possible to photograph it.

A few minutes later in a place somewhat closer to my car. I just couldn't resist it when the trees had lined themselves up so symmetrically on either side of the setting sun.