Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a county in the South East of England to the north west of London. It is known as Leafy Bucks to some, due to the idyllic rolling hills and vast woodlands but also contains several large towns, including High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, and Aylesbury, which have great tourist attractions as well as shopping opportunities.

Towns

Understand

Bucks (shorthand for Buckinghamshire) is a middle-size county, stretching from West London, near Heathrow Airport, to the outer reach of the Midlands. It borders, going clockwise from London, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and London. It is home to about 712,000 people with substantial residential growth in the centre.

Bucks is also home to Chequers Court, the Prime Minister's country residence and Pinewood Studios where many world famous films and television shows are filmed. It has homed many famous people including Roald Dahl, the children's author, who lived (and died) in Bucks for 30 years.

Visitor information

Get in

By plane

The main international airport is Heathrow Airport, just outside Bucks in the London Borough of Hillingdon. Other international airports within easy reach include London Luton to the east and Birmingham to the north west, and further afield Gatwick, Stanstead, East Midlands as well as London City Airport. Smaller airports and airfields are dotted around the county.

By train

Most rail services in Bucks radiate out from London. The north of the county (Milton Keynes) is served by the West Coast Main line with services to London Euston and north to Scotland. The middle and south of the county are served by Chiltern Railways' two main lines: one between London Marylebone and Aylesbury, and the other between London Marylebone and Birmingham/Stratford-upon-Avon calling at High Wycombe. There are plans to extend the Aylesbury line north to meet the West Coast Main line at Milton Keynes and possibly even further north to Rugby and Leicester using the old trackbed of the Great Central Main line, which closed in 1966. The very southern tip of the county is served by the Great Western Main line, although only two stations (Taplow and Iver) are in Bucks, with services to London Paddington and west to Reading. Burnham, Iver, and Taplow stations are now connected to the Elizabeth 'line', making travel into central London affordable and easy.

By car

Four motorways venture into Buckinghamshire, although only two run in the county for a reasonable distance:

  • The M1 serves the north of Buckinghamshire, mainly Milton Keynes
  • The M40 serves the south of the county, largely High Wycombe
  • The M25 enters Bucks for its junctions with the M40 and M4
  • The M4 serves Slough and Taplow

Other notable roads include:

  • A40 which parallels the M40 until Oxford
  • A41 which goes through Aylesbury, the county town
  • A5 which goes through Milton Keynes

By bus

Arriva services cover most of the county and Milton Keynes, with Carousel in the south and centre of the county. The north of the county is served by a frequent Stagecoach linking Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes and Buckingham. National Express services have a major interchange at the Milton Keynes Coachway.

See
  • Chiltern Hills. A chalk escarpment that stretches in a south-west to north-east diagonal from Goring-On-Thames to Luton, and is most prominent in Buckinghamshire. Coombe Hill, close to Wendover is an ideal place to view the Aylesbury Vale and is one of the most impressive viewpoints in the South-East of England.
  • The many stately homes and fine gardens that are numerous in Bucks including Waddesdon Manor, Hughenden Manor, Cliveden, Stowe Landscape Gardens and West Wycombe Park.
  • The unusual hand-dug Hellfire Caves, near High Wycombe. Constructed by the locals in the 1740s for Francis Dashwood (although possibly earlier), they were the location for meetings of the Hellfire Club.
  • The Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, just north of Aylesbury
  • Bekonscot Model Village, in Beaconsfield, is the oldest model village in the world and very popular. Depicting England in the 1930s, a highlight is the model railway which runs all around the village.
  • the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes: includes a working copy of the Ultra-secret Colossus, used by British codebreakers to help read encrypted German messages during World War II.

Eat

The large areas of countryside include many country pubs, serving excellent food. Restaurants are also found in rural areas but are more common in the urban areas.

Drink

Like most of England, almost every village in Bucks has a local pub, larger ones having more.

Stay safe

Buckinghamshire is a very safe county, especially in rural areas and villages. The most populated areas of Aylesbury, Milton Keynes, and High Wycombe are also generally safe, but do have minor problems with homelessness, gang violence, and social disorder. This is unlikely to impact tourists, but the police are happy to help if any problems arise.

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