kiwibird: West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire

We had a lovely day out with Donna, Patrick, Lucy and Poppy, the dog. The destination - West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, once the property of the Dashwoods, called West Wycombe Park, but now owned or managed by the National Trust.

Yes, even the village is mostly owned by the National Trust. Hence the reason why the buildings have not been modernised. The Dashwoods lived in West Wycombe Park for more than 300 years, but tried to sell the village after the Wall Street crash in 1929. Obviously they suddenly become a little short of money. Luckily, an organisation called The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce bought the village, otherwise it would have been destroyed. The National Trust took over the village, together with Dashwood House and 300 acres in 1933.

A little light relief, the colourful pencils, all grouped together. I wonder if they are singing. One can only absorb so much history.

And first of all lunch, in the pub, delicious hamburgers, steak, and sandwiches, with plenty of chips arranged artistically in blocks. A very pleasant beer garden. And very modern.

And then off we went up the very steep hill. We certainly walked off our lunch very quickly. The view towards High Wycombe, and the A40 in the distance. Wycombe, is a combination of two words, 'Wy' from the River Wye, and 'Combe' from an old English word for valley.

St Lawrence's Church,built in the 14th Century on the top of a hill, was given a middle eastern makeover in 1752 by Sir Frances Dashwood after his tour of Europe and the Ottoman empire. Very exotic church decorations.

The view of the outside of the church, with the golden ball on top of the tower, a copy of the custom house in Venice. There was also a large mausoleum on the bottom left side of the church, which was currently undergoing renovations.

Dashwood House, sitting beautifully in the surrounding parkland.

Patrick, Lucy and Poppy posing for a photograph.

And deep in the hill underneath the church, were caves, called the Hell-Fire Caves. The Caves were originally excavated by Sir Frances Dashwood in the 1740's to give employment to the villagers following a succession of harvest failures. The chalk was used as material for roads and buildings.

The entrance to the caves was most unusual. In fact I thought it was an entrance to an underground church? But that was where the similarities to churches ended.

It was very dark in the tunnels, and quite scary. I was very happy to have the companty of lots of other tourists. Sir Frances established the Knights of Saint Francis of Wycombe, later to be known as the notorious Hell-Fire Club, who used the caves for a number of their meetings and parties. One can imagine the antics that must have taken place during the parties.

The winding passages go down deep into the hillside, even past the underground River Styx with its stalagmites and stalactites. Too dark for a photograph there.

But I managed to get some photographs of the displays. He looks very much alive!

Lost in the tunnels?

Even a nun in here too. All just too unreal, and ghostly.

It is possible to book sessions for paranormal investigations and filming. There has been a television programme about the caves, and a film crew spent the night in the caves, without any lights. Not for me!

There was a children's birthday party in progress while we were there, no doubt there were lots of squeals and screams when the children spotted these two characters.

Dogs are not allowed in the caves. I think I needed Poppy in there though. Patrick, Donna and Lucy had visited the caves previously, so they stayed outside with Poppy. And drank coffee. Poppy ate an iced lolly.