After a morning of political meetings, Gill and I finally managed our first proper country walk together in a while. We drove up to Studham — a beautiful, quietly tucked‑away village in Bedfordshire — with the route taken from the More Great Walks in the Chilterns guide by the Chiltern Society.
Google Maps did its best to sabotage us by directing us to the wrong starting point, which caused more confusion than either of us needed. A lesson learned: always enter the full address when heading somewhere rural.
Once we were on the right path, the walk was wonderfully peaceful. The only real noise came from aircraft lining up to land at Luton Airport. This was only for a short section of the walk. The hedgerows and trees were still full of lovely spring blossom, and we were treated to plenty of Red Kites circling overhead. At one point we spotted a really tiny muntjac deer before it ran off.
A stretch of the route runs alongside Whipsnade Zoo. We couldn’t quite identify the animals in the distance, I must get some proper binoculars.
We stopped at St Mary Magdalene Church, where a group of very friendly parishioners were preparing for a service. They were more than happy to share the history of the church with us — one of those small, unexpected encounters that make a walk memorable.
We finished, as all good walks should, with a well‑earned drink at the Red Lion.
A simple day out, but a lovely one. Political conversations continued in the evening.
