Buckinghamshire is a distinctively shaped inland county. The delightful Chiltern Hills, sweeping through the south of the county, give the shire much of its character; with beech woods in the west, rising to higher, more windswept landscape around Ivinghoe Beacon, and all full of pretty villages of flint and thatch. It provides fine walking country.
The more gentle, pastoral Vale of Aylesbury lies north of the Chilterns. Buckinghamshire’s short southern border is the River Thames, which above Slough is considered the finest stretch of that river.
In the north of the county, along the Great Ouse, Milton Keynes spreads across the landscape; an ambitious, planned New Town of the 1970’s, in sharp contrast to Buckingham to the west, an ancient and very picturesque town.
County Facts
County Town: Aylesbury
Main Towns: Aylesbury, Beaconsfiled, Buckingham, Chalfont St Giles, Eton, High Wycombe, Linslade, Marlow, Milton Keynes, Princes Risborough, Slough.
Main Rivers: Ouse, Ray, Thames, Colne, Chess, Wyte, Lovat, Lyde.
Highlights: Burnham Beeches; Cliveden Estate; Quaker Meeting House, Jordans; Waddesden Manor.
Highest Point: Haddington Hill, 975 feet.
Area: 745 sq miles
Flower: Chiltern Gentian
