You might be surprised to know that a corner of the Chilterns has survived in its traditional form – more or less – due to the Corporation of London.  Burnham Beeches was once common land, used for grazing a variety of animals and for obtaining firewood and turf for fuel.  The area includes heathland, woodland, bog, grassland and wood pasture, the latter incorporating many beech and oak trees which have been ‘pollarded’ (cut and allowed to re-grow for firewood).

Come the late Victorian era, there was some prospect of the land being re-developed for houses.  Fortunately – and partly due to the intervention of local MP Sir Henry Peek – the City of London Corporation bought Burnham Beeches in 1880.  The public has been able to enjoy it ever since – with the exception of World War II, during which the land was used as a military vehicle reserve depot.

Dodge the cattle grids – and sometimes the cattle – and there is plenty to find in the Beeches. Perhaps the most surprising aspect is the artistic theme which runs through the land.  You can find a plaque celebrating the poet Thomas Gray and the beech tree which may have inspired the ‘nodding’ beech in Elegy in a Country Churchyard (1751).  Further along your walk are ponds which have inspired artists such as Myles Birket Foster, and locations visited by Mendelssohn and Jenny Lind, a 19th century opera singer.  But the stars of the Beeches are, inevitably, the eponymous trees, and the sense of tranquility they create as you pick your way through them.