In and around Buckinghamshire...

Pull on a jacket and wellies, the great outdoors awaits, rain or shine. Winter walks are wonderful on crisp, sunny days with an icing of frost on the ground, or accompanied by the gentle patter of raindrops on your hood. The Chilterns Countryside, Hughenden, Cliveden and Stowe are stark and beautiful in winter.

Winter is for rosy cheeks and frosty walks. It's for wrapping up warm, pulling on the wellies and getting out there in the Buckinghamshire countryside whatever the weather. The cosy tea room and tired-happy children afterwards make it all worthwhile.

There's something delightfully wistful about a garden in winter. There's a dense hush over everything, like the place really is sleeping. You can really see the structure of the garden, the dark soil, twisting stems of shrubs and spiky seedheads. It's worth exploring Stowe, Hughenden and Cliveden in the quiet season.

The Chilterns are well known for their rolling hills, wooded green valleys and chalk downland meadows. They're perfect for a ramble or a picnic. For walks with easily accessible paths in a carefully designed landscape dotted with elegant statues, monuments and temples, Stowe is your perfect destination.

Spring is here, which means it’s time to remove the covers from the historic statuary in gardens and parkland at places like Hughenden, Waddesdon, Cliveden and Basildon Park. Once the covers are off, the hard work begins.

2015 saw the start of a new phase of restoration for the gardens at Stowe. The Landscape Programme is comprised of 54 tasks to reinstate many of the lost temples and monuments that once ‘dressed’ the gardens like pieces of a theatre set whilst undertaking maintenance on structures and lakes. The project has achieved many significant milestones and has been extended to complete some of the more complex tasks. Read more and keep up to date here.

Discover more about the work we're doing to prolong the life of our ancient trees. Throughout Europe ancient and veteran trees are now rare. At Ashridge Estate, Chrissy Hardy and the ranger team are fundraising to ‘halo-release’ 1000 veterans.