By Graham K. Rogers

With the car I rented, I have been able to travel much more than the last vacations I have taken in England. Over the last few months, I decided there were one or two locations I wanted to revisit from my childhood. I began with the first house we lived in. Previously, we had used shared accommodation and then a family condo rented from the local government. Shakespeare Road in Mill Hill was small but comfortable and I spent my early teens there.

Shakespeare Road, Mill Hill

Not far from that house, up Hammers Hill, is Mill Hill village. Right on the edge of London, this has the flavour of the countryside, with its views over hills into Hertfordshire. It was here that I saw a sparrow hawk take a bird in flight and have loved birds of prey since (see below).

Mill Hill Village

Mill Hill Village

The part of the area with the duck pond has been featured in many movies, because of the older look of the area.

I moved a few kilometres into London, and back in time to the area of Greyhound Hill and Hendon Village. The Greyhound pub is still there, and of course the church.

Old Hendon

Old Hendon

We used to run through the graveyard (not a place of fear for us) to get to the park. The first school I attended has been rebuilt, a field that was full of Jersey cows when I was a child is now a park, and only a little of the olden charm remains.

Old Hendon

After this I returned to the country, stopping off at the (now quiet) Scratchwood Services on the M1. Since the opening of the M25, traffic on this part of the Motorway has reduced, but when traffic joins the M1 from the M25 further north, it comes to a standstill at times even though it has expanded to 4 lanes.

From Ivinghoe Beacon

Through rural Hertfordshire to Bedfordshire, I went through Whipsnade, site of an open zoo and first looked over the countryside at Bison Hill. I then drove to Ivinghoe Beacon, in Buckinhamshire, one of the highest parts of the Chiltern Hills and site of an Ordnance Survey (government mapping) trigonometry point. The views here are superb on a clear day and the view includes parts of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, as well as the chalk lion at Whipsnade Zoo.

Whipsnade Zoo - From Ivinghoe Beacon

From Ivinghoe Beacon

From Ivinghoe Beacon

The stiff walk up to the Beacon had sent my heart rate soaring. The Apple Watch I had showed 134 for a short while, although that soon subsided. Returning to the car park - almost 1 km - I spotted some tiny butterflies: less than 2 cms across.

Butterfly near Ivinghoe Beacon

I had just moved off in the car when I spotted a red kite. These birds have returned to the region in the last year or so and are clearly now established. I saw one over the house a couple of days ago. This time, the camera had the long lens already attached and I took a number of shots.

Red Hawk near Ivinghoe Beacon

Nowhere near as good as I would like (long lens, no tripod), the control of the bird is evident. I was reminded of the Auden poem that begins, "As the hawk sees it, or the helmeted airman. . ." Also in the car park I saw some crows eating fruit.

Crow near Ivinghoe Beacon

Down the hill, I followed the road to Ivinghoe, where I took some images and spoke to some people waiting for a bus (I wanted to know if it was okay to park the car).

Ivinghoe Village

Nearby is the village of Pitstone Green. While talking to the people, a red car stopped and an older man asked me if I knew the location of the windmill. I had seen this from the Beacon. I asked one of those waiting and she told me he should go back onto another road and there was a car park there. When I had finished taking pictures, I thought I should go too.

Pitstone Windmill

A tour group from the Bovingdon Historical Society was being shown round and I tagged on. While the guide was explaining the mechanical parts of the windmill, he asked me if I was a member: No. He asked if I was a member of the National Trust (an organization that looks after historical sites): No. "I will have to ask you for £ 2.50", which was OK by me.

Harvesting

Across the fileds, the ripe wheat was being harvested

See also:

UK Vacation Images (5) - Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

UK Vacation Images (3) - Beds/Bucks Countryside and Country People, Plus Electric Charging

UK Vacation Images (2) - House Beautiful and The Flying Pig

UK Vacation Images (1) - A Walk in the Woods

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life. He can be followed on Twitter (@extensions_th)