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| Hughenden Manor |
Nestling in the Chiltern Hills is the home of Benjamin
Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (1804-81) , or ‘Dizzy,’ Britain’s first Jewish Prime
Minister. It lies majestically high on the hill overlooking Hughenden Park, a
very pleasing country park that hugs the edge of High Wycombe and borders the
main road north from the town centre. Barely have you left the town before you are surrounded by the homely Chiltern hills, an area of outstanding
natural beauty that caresses the north west corners of the Greater London area.
I took the train from Worthing to get here. A good tip is
instead of paying for the return fare all the way from Worthing (or wherever you travel from) to High Wycombe
which is about £36, get a Travelcard which covers travel on the London
underground and mainline network from zones 1-6, which for the uninitiated
gives you access to virtually the whole London built up area. This took me up
to Victoria then out from Marylebone as far as West Ruislip. All I had to do
was to get a ticket at Marylebone for West Ruislip to High Wycombe return, and
I save myself about £4. Not a King's ransom but it all helps. Alternatively you can just be more organised and save money by booking in advance!
I took my bike with me on the train which you can do in the
UK for free, certainly outside peak times. When I got to Victoria I rode the
side roads near Buckingham Palace up to Hyde Park to avoid the potentially hair
raising ride up through Hyde Park Corner and Park Lane. Take a lot of care if you are cycling through London, keep your eyes in the back of your head and look confident. I then cycled through
Hyde Park although you have to be careful to keep to the cycle lanes. North of
Hyde Park I nipped into Paddington Station to see if I could use the rail from
there but no can do, so I continued on to Marylebone nearby. I sped past some
hospital where a phalanx of photographers were waiting for some celebrity (it turned out it was St Mary's hospital where they were waiting for Kate's impending new baby!), and dodging my way across Edgware Rd I soon arrived at my
destination.
Marylebone is a pint size station compared with the gallon
jug of Paddington but I always enjoy going through there as it makes a change
from the cavernous enormity of stations like Victoria, it’s a cosy clean little
six platform Victorian edifice which provides a gateway to the Chiltern Hills.
It also provides an alternative route to Birmingham.
It’s only a shortish train ride out
through north-west London and past Wembley Stadium before you reach High
Wycombe which is sufficiently outside the Greater London area to be in proper
countryside. High Wycombe has managed to get into the list of the top 100 'Crap towns' in the UK, although I must confess the bit that I saw seemed perfectly OK i.e. the town centre and then the northern suburbs. It's all very subjective! You can cycle from the station north to Hughenden Park, a mere
slip of a distance from the urban area but a true country park stretching up
along a green stream-filled valley, here you turn left off the main road, ride
past the little country church where Disraeli worshipped, and then up quite a
steep hill to Hughenden Manor itself. The stable outbuildings arranged around a
central court house reception, a shop, and the ubiquitous café, where lunches
are served until half three.
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| The stable yard |
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| Front of Hughenden manor |
I scuttled from reception to the
main house itself, a red brick Victorian mansion, in time to hear a talk on
Hughenden Manor’s place in the Second World War. It was here that a very
important part of Bomber Command’s strategy was carried out, the making of maps
of Germany to facilitate bombing raids. Hughenden Manor was part of a group of
centres including Medmenham and Bletchley Park which worked together in
providing aerial photographs, breaking codes and producing accurate maps to
help the war effort. The guide gave a very interesting talk on this subject and
showed us some outbuildings where some of the work was done, complete with maps
with magnifying glasses, an ancient 1940s bike, and uniforms from the era.
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| Second World War map theme |
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| Outbuilding used in WW2 |
An
older lady in the group told us that she remembered the day Dresden was bombed
and her mother saying ‘those poor people.’ Whatever we hear about the Dresden
bombing, parts for the Nazi rocket programme were made in that area of Germany.
By the time the talk was finished
it was time for a late lunch, but our guide tempted us with the prospect of a
top raconteur giving us the Disraeli talk back at the main house. In the end it
turned out that there were to be no more talks, so instead our guide offered to
give me a quick Disraeli history in the dining room. I can’t remember all the
details but Disraeli as a Jew was only able to pursue a parliamentary career and become PM because he had been
baptized as a Christian into the Church of England at the age of 12. He bought Hughenden Manor in 1848. Queen Victoria was evidently quite fond of
Disraeli (and did not like Gladstone!) and came to Hughenden Manor to dine, and you can see the very seat
where she sat. Disraeli also had connections with the Rothschilds just up the
road at Waddesden, a small country pile you might have heard of?
By the time I had heard about
Disraeli it was too late for a proper full blooded sausage and mashed potato
lunch and I had to make do with sandwiches and crisps, nevertheless sitting
contentedly in the stable courtyard to consume them. Then back to the house for
a quick run around before closing at five. A couple of nice young ladies were on hand at the front door to welcome visitors, so the National Trust is not just for oldies! The downstairs rooms at the back of
the house look out onto a huge gorgeous rectangle of lawn and flowerbeds
falling away into the backdrop of the Chiltern hills, unbeatable on a sunny
day.
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| Rear garden from bedroom window |
Here also you can see Margaret Thatcher’s last Red Box which she used for
her work, a well worn case perched next to an explanation. Upstairs Disraeli’s bedroom is roomy, light and with some yellow decor, again
with great views over the gardens.
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| Downstairs rooms |
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| Library |
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| Disraeli's bedroom |
In the basement is an exhibition
on Hughenden Manor’s place in the Second World War, when it was referred to as 'Hillside,' where everything looks just
like it might have been at the time, another type of ‘Churchill’s war rooms?’ Unfortunately
I had run out of time to have a proper look, so just shot a couple of photos and got out!
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| Margaret Thatcher's last Parliamentary box |
I roamed the gardens for a while
and admired the views, then decided to bike up through the surrounding woods to
a viewpoint which I did not find.
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| Garden views |
However I carried on along a long straight
track between fields until I hit the main road and the village of Naphill. I
decide to keep cycling along the main road and found myself eventually reaching
RAF High Wycombe with two old RAF planes suspended in mid-air at the entrance.
I even got a smile from a passing blue-uniformed female! There
wasn’t much to see in the way of an airfield because of vegetation screening, but I had the wind in my sails so carried
on cycling in the direction of the Chilterns scarp slope at the bottom of which
is Princes Risborough. The road was straight, nice and flat, making for an
easy ride, but when I got to Lacey Green, the gentle surrounding countryside
opened up to reveal bigger vistas and a looming hill descent to the Vale of
Aylesbury. Not wishing to cycle back up what would be a strenuous gradient, I
nibbled around the edges of the very promising views and then looked at ‘The
Whip, the pub at the top of the hill. However the beer garden looked a bit empty
and I decided to ride back to Hughenden Park to look at the church, stopping at
a pub with a nice beer garden out front I’d seen earlier.
After a drink I nipped back along
the track from Naphill, through the woods and down to the little Anglican
church, St Michael and All Angels Church, on the Hughenden Estate where Disraeli is buried. On a summer’s evening with
the wooded Chiltern valley as a backdrop, you couldn’t find anything more
English. There’s a neat little guide explaining the main features of the
church, like the memorial to the Earl of Beconsfield erected by Queen Victoria, the only memorial erected by a reigning monarch to one of her subjects in an English parish church. You can also see the seat where he used to sit.
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| St Michael and All Angels Church |
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| Memorial to Disraeli |
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| Church with Chiltern backdrop |
Time was getting on as the evening was setting in so I hopped on my bike and headed back down into Wycombe for the train home.
