Friday, 11 July 2025

Church update : St Peter, Wootton Wawen

Let's go back to number 1 in the Churches series! I recently revisited St Peter's in Wootton Wawen, the oldest church in Warwickshire with parts being Saxon. Finally, the church was open when i was there so i was able to go inside at last! The mix of styles and periods inside is fascinating.




Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Little Kimble and Ellesborough

At the weekend i headed down to Buckinghamshire for the first time in a while. I visited Little Kimble again, which is one of my favourite places in the world. This time though i also walked the mile to the neighbouring village of Ellesborough. On returning to Little Kimble, i was able to go inside the church of All Saints for the first time. You can see my photos here.




Monday, 7 July 2025

Bedfordshire Places (2) : Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard is a market town in the south west of the county close to the Buckingamshire border.

Leighton Buzzard may have been founded as early as the 6th century. The name Leighton is thought to be derived from the Old English for farm clearing in the woods (Leah tun). The Buzzard part of the name may come Beau-desert and was added to the town's name in the 12th century. However, there are other theories about the origin of the town's name.

Leighton Buzzard gained a market charter in 1086, and it became a successful market town thanks to it's good transport links to local agriculture and to London. These transport links included the Grand Union Canal which flows through the town. Leighton Buzzard gained a railway station in 1838 which is now part of the West Coast Main Line. One of the oldest surviving narrow gauge railways also has a terminus in the town (Leighton Buzzard Light Railway). A more modern transport link built close to the town is the M1 motorway.




Sunday, 6 July 2025

Wildcat

It has been a while since we had a model kit update. The latest project is #113 a Grumman Wildcat which, after a bit of a delay, is now progressing well and is in the painting stage. You may have noticed (or not) that the model kit list page has moved, it is now part of my website.