Five ways
There’s a recording studio next to this glasshouse where Foals practised in their early days. It’s possible that they played so loud that all the greenhouse glass shattered. “When we started, the music was almost a premeditated mix of blending techno and minimalism,” he [Philippakis] admits. “We’d set ourselves these rules, like ‘only staccato rhythms’, and ‘guitars must be played really high’. “
That’s Wytham Woods on the skyline. The Hill End Centre is roughly in the centre of the picture, and appears to be part of the Wytham Woods estate. It was run by OCC, but since 2017 it is an independent charitable trust. British Pathé has a short news piece showing children at Hill End in 1939, enjoying the outdoors. Well worth a nostalgic watch.
There are proposals to put solar panels on almost every field that you can see in front of you. Solar on rooftops, yes, but on open fields in open countryside, maybe not such a good idea.
Almost hidden in the foreground is Denman’s Farm – tile roofs on the left, and industrial farm units on the right. For a bit of gossip, and an obscure legal briefing, read all about the farm and The Law on Proprietary Estoppel.
The other day, on a walk, we discussed visiting Wotton House (Tony Blair owns an “outhouse”), which I discovered is also locked in a legal battle where proprietary estoppel is also involved. “In a widely-reported dispute worthy of a P G Wodehouse novel, David Gladstone – descendant of a prime minister, former High Commissioner of Sri Lanka and owner of Wotton House, a £15 million pile in Buckinghamshire – is seeking possession of the house from Mrs Leigh White, a former city solicitor, who moved in a few years ago and is now reluctant to leave.” [source]. Judgement is awaited.
Some girth to this tree on the Oxford Green Belt Way. I reckoned it needed three people to stretch round it, so maybe 18 feet (600cm) circumference. One source says 2.5 cm per year (so 240 years) but the Woodland Trust says at 18ft7in, or 558cm the tree is 358 years old (Last year of the English Civil War). Well old!
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One reply on “Photos from walk on Sunday 19th February from Farmoor Reservoir”
Not very happy memories for me of Hill End! Used to take my Oxford Schools Orchestra there for holiday courses. They had hopeless paraffin stoves in the kitchen then, and on our first course there we filled the oven with 60 spuds for jackets for dinner on the first night (Friday) and they were actually ready to eat on Sunday. There were many cows on site, doing what cows do, and one of the staff said his flat hat blew off on his way across the field to go to the dorm, and in the dark he tried on 3 hats before he found his actual hat! Great picture as always.