Goldfish Bowl Cow.

Today, while stealthily approaching the fence surrounding one of the fields in Westlington Lea, with the intention of taking an undisturbed picture of the tranquil scene before me, (picture the sun filtering it's light down through the overlooking trees, onto a beautiful green field, deep in the heart of Buckinghamshire, while a number of cows lie on their sun loungers, sipping away at Pina Colada's & reading country life magazine). My plans however, to capture such an idyllic scene were completely foiled by a Jersey Cow,...because in the few seconds it took to get from my vehicle to the fence, this cow had raced like Linford Christie from the middle of the field to get to the fence first, before proceeding to poke her nose right into my camera-like she was just about to eat it, resulting in the said gold fish bowl-like image that you see before you. (Click on the picture to see the full gold fish bowl effect).

Plane Crashes in Ford, 1944

This memorial in Ford, marks the death of two crew members of a Wellington bomber that crashed on a training flight at the vilage of Ford at 01:55 hours, on the 9th January, 1944.

Grey Heron

The Grey Heron or Ardea cinerea (if you speak Latin) shown in the picture, was seen today standing motionless for what seemed like hours on top of a house rooftop in Upton Road, trying his best not to be noticed.
Herons can usually be found in School Lane, Dinton, where you can see them patiently and expertly stalking their prey before proceeding to empty the fishing lake of all the fish-much to the owners displeasure.

One of the more curious things about a heron, is that despite being one of our largest common birds, surprisingly many still nest in trees! Watching the branches of a tree nearly buckle in on itself, under the weight of a large heron that thinks of itself, as actually being quite light, is one of natures more amusing sights.

Oliver Cromwell

In a website I was looking at concerning Dinton Church, it made the intriguing assertion that it was likely Oliver Cromwell actually worshipped there-when he visited his friend Simon Mayne, the Lord of the Manor.
Even though Cromwell only ruled for five years as Lord Protector, his controversial legacy is such, that even 350 years after his death, his name still stirs up strong feeling. During those five momentous, turbulent years, Cromwell overturned Parliament, signed the death warrant of Charles 1st, fought bloody battles in England, Ireland & Scotland, turned England into a Republican Commonwealth....and also it seems, visited Dinton Church.

Village Stocks

The Dinton village stocks, seen opposite School Lane is only a copy. (The original can be seen in the entrance of Dinton Church.)

Dinton Hall

The two tone clay roof of Dinton Hall took a year and a half to complete, and contains over 60,000 roof tiles. It was shortlisted in a national renovation ceremony in 2004.

There she blows!

The quiet village of Ford woke up this morning to find a twenty five foot jet of mains water being pumped high into the sky. The water pressure is so great in this part of Buckinghamshire, that when a water mains bursts, it produces a quite spectacular display. The mains has burst twice in the last 6 months, having previously burst a few months earlier in the same village. In fact, I could see this unusual water feature from a neighbouring village two miles away. Repairmen were on the scene within the hour to fix the leak.