The best walks and hikes around Leckhampstead

The Fane of Pastoral Poetry is a small octagonal temple of ashlar stone, four sides pierced by semi-circular headed arches. The building originally had a steeply domed roof it is now maintained as a roofless ruin. The temple was built by Gibbs in about 1726-7 on the site now occupied by Queen Caroline's Monument and was known as the Gibbs building. It was originally surrounded by the eight Rysbrack British Worthies. Plans were prepared by Borra to convert it to a Temple of Diana but this was never carried out. It was demolished and re-erected in a simpler form on its present site in the mid 1760's. Also known as the Belvedere and in the sale catalogues as the Egyptian Building. Small roofless structure 1727/3 by Gibbs, as The Belvedere. Re-erected on present site 1760's. Ashlar stone with moulded cornice. Octagonal, 4 sides pierced by semi-circular headed arches, with keyblocks, stepped architraves and impost mouldings. Blank oculi in angled faces. In a glade in the wood at the far end of the Grecian Valley is the small open-sided temple or belvedere designed by Gibbs for Lord Cobham, and first set up as part of the early, western phase of the garden in September 1729. It was originally known simply as ‘Gibbs’s Building’ and stood on a mound (accommodating an ice-house) in an almost exactly opposite relationship to the house, to the south-west, where it provided a viewpoint towards the Rotondo and the Queen’s Theatre, and housed the series of busts by Rysbrack (Bacon, Hampden, Locke, Milton, Newton, Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth and William III) which were later transferred to the Temple of British Worthies in the Elysian Fields. Gibbs’s Building was repositioned by Earl Temple in the 1760s to frame a view of Wolfe’s Obelisk, which he had recently set up outside the gardens to the north, and was rechristened the Fane of Pastoral Poetry. The building also provided framed prospects over the surrounding park, reached via the shady groves of the Grecian Valley. Van Nost’s lead figure of Thalia, the Muse of Pastoral Poetry, was placed just to the north of it. The statue was one of his series of Apollo and the Nine Muses which was removed from the South Vista in the 1740s (see p. 24), but she no longer survives at Stowe. The four terms once outside the Fane are now at Port Lympne. Statue - Muse of Pastoral Poetry - was installed on Tuesday the 4th December 2018. This statue is a direct copy of the c18th lead statue of Heroic Poetry located on the Grenville Column which is attributed to van Nost. Originally (1720s) this statue was locatd on the south front parterre. Source: https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA130213

Enjoyable stretch of jogging along the beautiful River Great Ouse that runs through Buckingham.

Meander along paved paths through the pretty Bourton Park. The park is home to a diverse eco-system featuring kingfishers, frogs, and otters.

Woodland walk along the edge of the magnificent Stowe Landscape Gardens. If you have time, you may want to divert into the gardens and explore the many structures and statues here.

Pleasant section of walking through a mosaic of farmland.

"The square W tower of Wicken church was erected by Robert, Lord Spencer in 1617, but the remainder of the medieval building was taken down in 1753, after it was found to be unsafe. The cost of rebuilding was met by Thomas Prowse, described as the designer of the church on a tablet in the N aisle. It was completed by 1770, and comprises a nave with aisles of equal height, N and S transepts and a square chancel. The church was restored in 1838, and again by Matthew Holding in 1896-97. In the latter restoration the chancel was lengthened to the E, the S transept was added, and a boiler-room built at the W end of the N aisle. The 12thc. font may be the sole relic of an earlier structure on the site." Cit. https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=8140

The market town of Buckingham makes for a relaxing stop after a day walking in the countryside. As is typical of a market town, it is adorned by many pubs, restaurants and great places to stay. It was the county town of Buckinghamshire from the 10th century until the early 18th century, when Aylesbury took on the mantle. A disastrous fire around this time meant that much of its centre had to be rebuilt. However, the town recovered well and still holds on to its traditional charm.

I love his hidden treat, great spot for a picnic of the westher turns with four benches inside to take a pew.