Capturing the essence of ... Est.1998 ® COUNTY LIFE MAGAZINE BedfordshireWINTER ISSUE 2020 BROMHAM - on the cover If you would like to advertise in our next hard copy edition of Bedfordshire County Life email us today [email protected] HOWEVER... If you can’t wait to advertise in our next edition we can upload your advert to our latest online e-edition of Bedfordshire County Life. Simply email Great Escapes - Down your way Following in royal footsteps, [email protected] Bromham delights many who visit County Life observes the this village to admire its impressive attractions of the Heritage Coast. ancient bridge and beautiful restored mill. Grand Days Out Aspects of County Life Whitstable... County Life A WINTER’S WALK: Running across recalls this coastal Bedfordshire, from Leighton Buzzard to delight. Synonymous with £3.25 Gamlingay, the Greensand Ridge is the county’s main longest distance walk. oysters, Pip, Squeak and Winter is the ideal time to follow it. Wilfred and Peter Cushing! Down Your Way • Aspects of County Life • History & Heritage • County Connections • The County Gardener • Wildlife • New Books • Lifestyle • Seasonal Features • Grand Days Out • Great British Traditions • A Picture of England • The Short Story • New Homes DECEMBER SALE FIRST WORD Your Winter Edition Hello and welcome to your winter edition of County Life. This time last year, nobody could have imagined that 2020 would have such an impact on society. As every New Year approaches, and we bid a farewell to the previous one, we trust that it will deliver health, happiness and a degree of fulfilment for personal dreams and aspirations. As 2021 dawns, let’s hope that the newly announced vaccine against Covid-19 will enable us to return to the way of life we had perhaps taken for granted. It has been an absolute joy to put this issue together. The support from readers, contributors and advertisers alike has proved to be a great source of encouragement, especially during such a bleak period and, as always, I hope that you enjoy reading this edition’s eclectic content. Down Your Way returns to one of my all-time favourite villages. Bromham has a wealth of history and heritage and is well worth a visit. If you need an excuse to get out, then walking the Greensand Ridge will provide the perfect challenge and our article ‘A Winter’s Walk’ by Isobel Murdoch provides an insight in to this trail. Aspects of County Life include the following: The Friendly Enemy and Sundays Long Gone; both absorbing reads from contributor Michael Dundrow. For those gardeners among you, we have our regular advice from Peter Dean. Grand Days Out features Suffolk, and we escape to Whitstable; home to much more than just oysters! Other regulars include British Traditions; Nature Notes; The Short Story by Jill Sheldon, and, to conclude, A Picture of England. I am looking forward to my editorial journey during 2021. I trust that the New Year will be a one which brings new hope for us all. In the meantime, keep safe and enjoy your winter edition of County Life! an Al www.countylifemagazines.co.uk County Life 3 PICTURE THIS YOUR LETTERS DEAR COUNTY LIFE ... THE COVID EFFECT ... Covid-19 has certainly made many people re-evaluate life. I am one of those who were most certainly affected by lock down earlier this year. The subsequent change in social activities has also had an affect on my life with shielding impacting my daily routine; a routine and a way of life I had taken for granted. Earlier this year, with time on my hands, and a life time of memories to recall, I started to write a series of articles based on my recollections of growing up in my birth town of Letchworth and my early working life in and around the counties of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire; the latter where I have now retired to. I must also add that I was inspired to take this route having read so many of your readers’ personal recollections, which have been published in County Life during the past few years and since I have been subscribing to your wonderful magazine. Mr Richard Willow - Somersham From the editor... I look forward to reading your contributions and sharing them with our readers! writeback Contact County Life at ... Pen-ultimate letter [email protected] DEAR COUNTY LIFE ... When I reflect back on the last 20 years of my life, I do so Have your say - make a with a mixed bag of emotions. comment or recommendation. I had just parted company with my teenage years, and was Our ‘Pen-ultimate’ enjoying my independence and first real wage packet, which I communication will receive one could spend in an eclectic high street, full of independent year’s subscription to either our traders. I could use cash to pay for my purchases and say Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire or good morning to complete strangers, without being Cambridgeshire editions; also considered odd. I wouldn’t think twice about answering a redeemable as a gift phone call from an unknown number either. subscription to a friend if Twenty years on, the one good thing I still enjoy, and which preferred! has remained true to its core values, is the content of my favourite magazine. No prize for guessing which one I’m referring to! Keep up the good work County Life. The seasonal photo - Credit: Trang Pham. If you have a seasonal snap you’d like to submit, email it to [email protected] Russell Good (Images submitted for consideration must be offered free of copyright and license and your own work) Stevenage 4 County Life www.countylifemagazines.co.uk www.countylifemagazines.co.uk County Life 5 EDITOR: Alan Humphreys - [email protected] SALES: Lesley-Ann Humphreys - [email protected] Published by County Life Magazines (Select Publishing), PO Box 32, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 8TE A look inside PROUDLY INDEPENDENT, SINCE 1998 www.countylifemagazines.co.uk - Tel: 01462 81 94 96 LIFESTYLE winter 2020 ISSUE 90 REGULARS 16 • ASPECTS OF COUNTY LIFE A Winter’s Walk - Greensand Ridge 20 • FROM THE ARCHIVES The Friendly Enemy 31 bromham • UNDER THE HAMMER 16 Cars and Classics on the cover 34 • COUNTY GARDENER y and all moral rights in such text, photography images. Front cover image copyright Alan Humphreys 2010 Colours, perfumes, harvest and prep irrevocable, non-exclusive right and licence to use, reproduce modify, modify, non-exclusive right and licence to use, reproduce irrevocable, 37 • BRITISH TRADITIONS 34 A little of what we love publisher ose of the editor and should not be taken as such proprietors, 38 • GREAT ESCAPES The attraction of the Heritage coast 40 • GRAND DAYS OUT Whitstable... more than oysters 42 • NATURE NOTES 10 The fashion for ‘wilding’ 48 • SHORT STORY down your way 31 Time to relax and unwind 50 • THE LAST WORD A picture of England Bromham SPECIAL 24 • SUNDAYS LONG GONE FEATURES Michael Dundrow, his mother HISTORY ASPECTS OF SUBSCRIBE and 3-year-old sister were editions and assert in future and waive an and to re-publish developed, unless otherwise directed nology now known or hereafter 40 grant Select Publishing a perpetual, royalty-free © 2020 Select Publishing. Contributors automatically and hereby ntents remain HERITAGE 38 • FOLLOWING IN ROYAL FOOTSTEPS 16 evacuated from London’s East BEDFORDSHIRE LIFE aterial submitted is sent entirely at the owners risk. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily th in this magazine are at the owners risk. The views and opinions expressed aterial submitted is sent entirely End during the Blitz. Aged just 10 • BEDFORDSHIRE 12, Michael settled in with a Running across Bedfordshire, the HAS A CLUSTER OF friendly family of farmers and Greensand Ridge forms a line of JEWELS IN ITS CROWN: quickly became absorbed in their Visitors to Bromham won’t sandy hills overlooking clay vales, way of life; one which he recalls fail to be impressed by its an area of conifer forest and with such vivid detail and medieval bridge. During scattered heathland. fondness in his article ‘Sundays Bromham’s early years, the Long Gone’. 38 river, which powered the 16 • A WINTER’S WALK GRAND DAYS OUT... REVISITED Subscribe to Bedfordshire’s Whitstable... charm, culture and history mill, was full of wildlife, Many of the place names along the Greensand Ridge recall the longest established traditional including eels, which were area’s light soil - Rammamere Heath, Millbrook Warren, Sandy county magazine for JUST £23 A YEAR 40 • WHITSTABLE. exported as far as London. Warren. Detailed route leaflets for this walk are available, and A quarterly miscellany of CONTRIBUTORS Synonymous with oysters, Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, Today, Bromham Mill, set bright, clear winter days are an ideal time to follow the Ridge. Bedfordshire life, home Peter Dean - Michael Dundrow interest, days out and lifestyle Alan Humphreys - Isobel Murdoch the Crab and Winkle Railway and Peter Cushing, in seven acres of water Our walk begins in Leighton Buzzard and concludes in the in the county and beyond. W&H Peacock - Jill Sheldon - Tim Sharrock 24 Whitstable has become a favourite spot in the meadows, is rich in bird Cinques Common Nature Reserve in the hamlet of Gamlingay See page 36 and editor cannot be held responsible for any statements or views expressed editorially within the content of this magazine. Co for any statements or views expressed and editor cannot be held responsible and distribute such text, photography images into any form, medium or tech derivative works from publish, translate, create hearts and minds of all who visit the town. and plant life. Cinques, outside the larger village of Gamlingay.