Chilterns B&B accommodation, England
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Wildlife: We know our wildlife so well! Just be still and quiet on Denner Hill and you may spot moorhens in the orchard pecking at apples, muntjac or fallow deer quietly moving along a hedgerow, badger or fox foraging at dusk, red kite nesting in our garden or buzzards wheeling overhead. Our millennium wood encompasses two-hundred year old oak trees, and our new ponds encourage newts, dragonflies and nesting ducks and moorhen. As farming recedes, wild flowers and plants ('weeds') return to light up underused fields along the hill.
Building/Energy: Just three craftsmen built the Barn at Rickyard Cottage in a style that has never died out. The curves for the roof eaves are modelled on our Land Rover. The dogtooth brickwork on the terrace wall is the signature of our builder, Trevor Howland. The walls are built from the land: flintstone off the fields, brick clay from the soil, and Denner Hill stone, treasured and reused, from right here where it was quarried (used to patch up Windsor Castle). The building is also modern and 'green': massive insulation, an air-source heat pump, underfloor heating, shower not bath: all help to keep energy cost down and provide a pleasantly natural environment.
Community
Friends & Neighbours: As members of the farming community, we know who produces the best local food (usually a relative or friend!) We can tell you where to find your Christmas turkey, the best wild venison, or luscious pick-your-own strawberries. Our group of B&B providers is dedicated to upholding high standards, and we are generous in recommending each other.
Local crafts and culture: Sue studied Art and Architecture and her great pleasure has been to choose art for the Barn. When Art Works for Business brought a large abstract painting which miraculously matched colours and ambience, Sue knew she had to have it. So Jacqui Crabtree's loose painting of flowers was our first acquisition. Then, while on a visit to Bucks Open Studios, we discovered Christine Bass' bold renditions of the Chiltern landscape. Her local view from the hills now hangs in the Barn, too. High Wycombe, our local market town, has been renowned for centuries for furniture making and the beechwoods, grown for this purpose, are testament to this. In the Barn, you will find an example of a Victorian 'Windsor' chair. But you may not realise that the bed you sleep on, the furniture you use, the custom built cupboards, are all made in Bucks. We believe in supporting local industry instead of losing it.
Landscape
Before there were road, there were pathways. More people find Denner Hill on foot than by car and Rickyard Cottage lies at the centre of a wheel of footpaths to explore. For a quick taster , we have photographed and described two short walks that encompass a range of the viewpoints, woods, fields , hills and valleys that surround us. We helped our parish Farming and Conservation Group produce its own highly-praised walking map. With it, visitors can meander the surrounding beechwoods and find villages such as Great Hampden with its cricket pitch, pub and historic church and hilltop Speen with pub and icecream parlour. We also often recommend our favourite walk. Where else would you find an Iron Age hillfort and the residence of the Prime Minister on one walk, and which encompasses thatched cottages, hilltop views, ancient beechwood tracks and the largest field in Bucks? Not to mention the best chocolaterie in which to regain your strength?!
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