26th August
Not many Bedfordshire walks in our list and this is certainly outside of our normal ‘Chilterns’ patch. The aim is to walk, call in at Elizabeth’s for a quick tea and return for football. All the best laid plans…they’re out at a summer fayre! Anyway, the walk is still worth it! Essentially, this is a 9 mile ramble through the grounds of Woburn Abbey. Plenty of opportunities for pictures of deer, views of the Bedfordshire countryside and time to chat.
We pass through Eversholt and Church End…or is it the church end of Eversholt…? Anyway, this includes possibly the smallest art gallery in the world, which enchants Sue, and the boyhood cottage of Frank Wild …of ‘Robert Scott ‘and ‘Ernest Shackleton’ fame. Who’d have though, Polar explorers used to walk these lanes!
Eventually we return across the extensive front lawn of Woburn Abbey, more deer pictures, and the car. A 9.3 mile walk but the ‘end of summer’ humidity made it feel longer.
It’s only after getting home that I realize the close connections between this part of Bedfordshire and Camden…Eversholt Street, Russell Square, Bedford Hotel, Woburn Place, Bedford Square, The Lord John Russell pub…all connected in some way to the ancestral home of the Dukes of Bedford. It turns out that most of Bloomsbury is owned by the Duke of Bedford. Money stretches it tentacles everywhere!
Woburn picture gallery (more pictures on Flickr):
Distance: 9.3 miles ; Difficulty: Moderate
Postcode for Satnav: MK17 9PG
Woburn walk profile
Where Angells Tread! 
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