Chilterns Stories
‘Chilterns Stories’ is a collection of tales inspired by the diverse cultural and natural heritage of the Chilterns National Landscape – a designated area of outstanding natural beauty. These stories provide new ways for people living and working in the area to appreciate the value of the landscape all around them.
Watch the Chilterns Stories Video
The books have now been sent to schools in the local area. This short film has been created to tell the staff, students, and others, a bit more about the collection and what how they connect with the Chilterns Landscape. We hope the schools use the books for their learning curriculum and keep in their libraries for all to enjoy. We hope these books inspire those reading them to appreciate and value the beauty of this special landscape.
We’ve had some lovely feedback so far…
“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”
“I just received your wonderful Chilterns Stories… I will certainly use them in my class next year!”
“I just wanted to write to thank you for the Chilterns Stories Collection you have sent to us. It is so interesting and I’m looking forward to sharing with the students in school”
“We are just emailing to say thank you for the lovely box of books that we received… these books will be a welcome addition…”
If you have any other questions about the collection, please contact Fran Crowther at fcrowther@chilterns.org.uk.
With thanks to Lesley Hoskins, Sara Clifford, Helena Chance and Wendy Morrison for the Chilterns Stories video.
Hidden Hands
NEW RELEASE!
Many Chilterns’ villages and small towns were once home to important local industries that depended on the labour of women and even children. These were skilled workers making parts for hats, clothing and furniture that were sold nationally and internationally.
Focusing on Buckland, Great Hampden, West Wycombe and Holmer Green, and with more than 75 illustrations, this book brings to light the little-known lives of some of these women and girls: the straw plaiters of the later nineteenth century who worked long hours at home for a pittance; the caners and rushers who went out to make seats in the workshops of the flourishing chair industry; the lacemakers of the early twentieth century who found pride, pleasure – and a bit of pin money – in their traditional craft; and the women who gained a measure of independence in the highly specialised workshops that supplied glamorous beaded fabrics to the London fashion business.
Hidden Hands gathers their stories together by volunteers who have spent hours researching the Chilterns’ industries and the people who worked in them. This book reflects their dedication to bringing the past alive.
Order now!
£6.99 + postage
The Story of Grim's Ditch
NEW RELEASE!
Grim’s Ditch is a series of disconnected earthworks running through Buckinghamshire, etched into the landscape. These features would have taken a great deal of hard work and organisation to construct and maintain, but we still do not have a true understanding of why they were built.
This book looks into the myths, legends and theories surrounding Grim’s Ditch, having a peek into the ancient world where people who built them lived. Sifting facts from fairytales, the book looks into what archaeology is and does, also examining what we know about Grim’s Ditch and what is still to be discovered!
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
£4.99 + postage
My Home in the Chilterns
My Home in the Chilterns contains winning entries from the competition of the same name, which was commissioned by the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership Scheme, and organised and run by Wycombe Museum.
Local school children were encouraged to write a story about what their home the Chilterns means to them, thinking about the special qualities and characteristics of the landscape, heritage and culture.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
Not available for purchase.
Sour Cherry Soup
Playwright Sara Clifford was commissioned as Writer in Residence by South Downs National Park/Applause Rural Touring Agency in 2019. Inspired by local stories, her show, Cherry Soup, toured rural venues across the Park. In 2023, Cherry Soup was recommissioned as Sour Cherry Soup by the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership in the Chilterns and is now available as a book.
The show is performed with one actor taking on the role of a cherry seller by the side of the road who hears the different stories of the people who stop to buy fruit. It reflects the wide variety of people who live, work and walk in the Chilterns. The show was successfully performed at several outdoor venues during June 2023.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
Not available for purchase
The Ballad of Bodgers Wood
The Ballad of Bodgers Wood is a new ballad for little ones, written by acclaimed children’s poet, Rachel Rooney, and illustrated by Ekta Bajaj and Paul Aherne.
It explores the lives of two children at the turn of the industrial revolution, who are drawn together over a love for the Chilterns’ woods and the magic therein. When Majorie meets apprentice Bodger boy, Arthur, they teach each other about their different lives and tradition and modernity meet among the leafy, ancient beech woodlands of old Buckinghamshire. Their adventures together in the Hampden Woods soon turn to disaster, but it becomes a valuable opportunity to learn a lesson from each other on our hopes for the future.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
£4.99 + postage
Metroland
Metroland was Julian Barnes’s first novel and draws heavily on his personal experiences growing up in the suburbs of London.
In November 2022, the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership, in association with the Being Human Festival presented, ‘A Return to Metroland: Julian Barnes in conversation’ at Amersham Museum. Booker Prize winning writer, Julian Barnes, along with Sebastian Groes and Geeta Ludhra joined Sean Keegan in conversation about the echoes of Britain’s changing identity and the sense of place in modern literary fiction.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
Not available for purchase
Fantastic Mr Fox
Famous children’s novel Fantastic Mr. Fox is about three farmers who are losing food to Mr. Fox and his family. The three farmers dig after Mr. Fox and trap him until he outsmarts them and digs tunnels sideways to the farms. He steals food and cider from the farmers and has a great feast with all the other animals. The animals then decide to stay underground and use the tunnels for food while the farmers forever wait outside the hole.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
Not available for purchase
In Their Own Words
In Their Own Words is a book of fascinating of oral histories, accompanied by nine online videos. It is quite rare to find ordinary working people’s accounts of what it was like in the past, but these interviews capture personal experiences, giving us an eyewitness account of events, places and people.
Volunteer researchers working for the Woodlanders’ Lives and Landscapes social history project in the Chilterns are very lucky to have discovered three important collections of oral history interviews. Until now, these interviews, which were recorded onto reel-to-reel and cassette tape between the 1950s and the 1980s, have largely remained hidden in public and private archives.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership.
Not available for purchase
The legacy of our book series
Our Chilterns Stories festival has held a variety of events to engage people with their local landscape through books and reading, such as a children’s woodland walk inspired by Roald Dahl’s stories and our commissioned ‘The Ballad of Bodgers Wood’, as well as audience with Julian Barnes about his book, Metroland. We also ran a children’s writing competition with Wycombe Museum, encouraging children to write about what they thought was special about their landscape.
As the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership Scheme comes to end in 2024, we are keen that the legacy of the work we have done to connect people to their local landscape through art, music, theatre and literature lives on. By presenting the full collection of Chiltern Stories to schools and public libraries across the area, we hope these books will inspire those reading them to appreciate and value the beauty of this special landscape. For more information, please email ccc@chilterns.org.uk.