A couple of months ago I made a post about a walk I made around Burn Hill near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. At the time I didn’t know anything about Burn Hill. By coincidence I was looking on the Modern Antiquarian Website this morning (I deny being a hippy - I just have a geeky interest in ancient landscapes) and found this…

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/538/burn_hill_barrow.html

It would seem that Burn Hill is a round barrow. It clearly isn’t a natural hill - it just looks wrong on the landscape. It’s a pretty big barrow so must have been a quite significant tomb in it’s day.

Boy Wonder was sick yesterday so, as school won’t take him back until he is sickness free for 24 hours, we are both feeling a little housebound.

A short walk in the woods was on order…

Although it was only a short walk there was plenty to explore. Including dens left over from last summer…

The bluebells are stating to grow (hopefully they’ll be in flower before we leave) and the kites were out in full force this morning.

This is one of Boy Wonder’s favourite spots and as we walked round he said how he was looking at everything so he will be able to remember it all when we have moved. I think there’s going to be a lot of that over the coming weeks.

With the realisation that I am probably leaving this part of the world for a while I need to visit all those places that have been on the “one day” list for ages. So, poor dog is being dragged all over the place - no more of her regular walks up and down The Ridgeway, this might be her last chance to explore some other corners of Oxfordshire.

Today we have walked from Larkrise to Candleford, or more properly from Cottisford (the inspriation for Candleford) to Juniper Hill (Larkrise) and back again.

My dodgy handwritten scrawls indicate where my pictures were taken.

a. View of Tusmore House from the Beech Avenue on College Farm…

b. Wireless station as seen from Cottisford Heath…

c. Juniper Hill… (the clues are all there)

And finally d. some trees…

The second half of the walk from Juniper Hill to Cottisford followed the route that Flora Thompson (the author of the Larkrise Trilogy) walked to school. Not a bad walk on a dry spring morning but it would  have been tough going mid winter for the group of children that would have made the journey. A mile doesn’t seem far until you’re up to your knees in mud.

I hate walking in all this mud but it does leave behind some great animal tracks… badger?

The natural setting of Marsden Moor offers the opportunity to kick start your fitness resolution this month with a selection of new guided walks.

ONE of the country’s rarest butterflies is flourishing on Exmoor thanks to a return to more traditional seasonal weather over the past year.

… and now Boy Wonder is trying to turn me in to a plane spotter.

This flew over and we thought it was a Spitfire although the engine noise (and the paint work) wasn’t right for a Spitfire. 10 minutes on the interweb when we got home and I’m delighted to say it’s a Messershmitt BF-109!

Cool sunset this afternoon.

Yesterdays walk was a short circular route around Burn Hill, Nr Stone, Buckinghamshire.

I must admit to it not being the most exciting walk but in the summer time when there’s a litlte more bird and insect life around this might be a suitable walk to take with the kids in tow.

As you can see by the elevation profile the walk is around Burn Hill and not up it at all - as far as I can see there is no public footpath to the hill.

I have no idea who or what the Burn referred to is, maybe a quick search is required to brush up on my local history.

Cereal crops making a start already, amazing considering this field was under a foot of snow less than two weeks ago.