People
We worked with a wide range of communities and organisations to empower people to explore, enjoy and care for this incredible landscape.
Chilterns Festivals
Our Chilterns Festivals celebrated the landscape, culture and heritage of the Chilterns National Landscape through a range of media, including theatre, story-telling and painting, as well as through events, family activities, walks and days out.
Our Festivals focused on themes relevant to the Central Chilterns, such as its chair-making heritage, the characteristic chalk landscape, the disappearing cherry orchards, and the women working in local industries of times gone by.
Chilterns Theatre
‘Sour Cherry Soup’, a 45-minute, one-woman show that tells the story of the changing landscapes and populations of the Chilterns. Performed over two weeks in local venues.
“Sensational, educational, emotional”
Chilterns Landscapes
A week long art exhibition held at Wycombe Museum included a selection of fine art from local and national museums (reproduced), a schools art competition and a sample of work from local and amateur artists.
Read more about the exhibition in the programme.
Chilterns Stories
A creation of a collection of tales inspired by the diverse cultural and natural heritage of the Chilterns National Landscape. These stories provide new ways for people living and working in the area to appreciate the value of the landscape all around them.
“Thank you for the lovely books… I am looking forward to sharing them with staff to support learning and placing them on display in the library for children to enjoy”
Chilterns Chairs
A festival which celebrated the special furniture-making heritage of the Chilterns and its unique link to the local landscape and woodlands, in partnership with Wycombe Museum. The festival included a variety of events and activities from local partners, ranging from chair factory tours, cemetery tours, talks and creative activities such as Royal Chair painting workshop and exploring High Wycombe’s chairmaking heritage through dance.
Look through the programme of events!
“Amazing opportunity to learn and see something new”
Understanding the Chilterns
The project offered free hands-on in-school or virtual sessions with accompanying museum loan boxes for Key Stage 2 children. The sessions combined the history and geography themes of landscape, settlement and industry. Reflecting the primary history curriculum’s strong emphasis on chronology and historical enquiry, the children have a chance to investigate real and replica artefacts and ask museum staff questions to gain an understanding of the story of people in time and place in the Chilterns.
‘The most successful part of the learning experience was providing the children with the opportunity to get hands-on and explore the artefacts, and then placing the artefacts in context during the follow-up virtual session’ Year 3 teacher
Echoed Locations
A sonic map was created, which provided the opportunity for exploration and celebration of the cultural and natural heritage of the Chilterns. The map allowed anyone with a smartphone or voice recording device to get out in nature and record what they hear.
Sonic Postcards were also designed and recorded by Bucks New University illustration students. The students were challenged to create the first sonic postcards of the National Landscape, combining simple recording skills and their creativity to bring new places and sounds to life.
Planning for the Future
The Neighbourhood Planning Toolkit helps communities to take action to conserve and enhance their local area within the Chilterns National Landscape through the Neighbourhood Planning process. It explains the special qualities of the Chilterns and why it is important to protect, conserve and enhance them.
This Toolkit aims to direct you to resources that explain the processes involved in Neighbourhood Planning. It will help you to decide if a Neighbourhood Plan is suitable for you, what topics should be included, and how the content should relate to the Chilterns National Landscape.
Plan your trip to the Chilterns!
Outstanding Chilterns Magazine
