"Royal Rustic Rather Relaxing Buckinghamshire" Buckinghamshire by iris2002

Green, green and more green where the eye can see. Buckinghamshire is one of the typical royal counties, lots of manor houses, well trimmed gardens and very neat lawns behind picket fences ... tea parties and generally a bit of a laid back savoir-vivre to relax from the busy London city life.

I do like it up there as it has sooo many walking options through wonderful woodlands, pretty much from ones doorstep.

Milton Keynes is one such town (pretty cool shopping too and it seems to consist of only roundabouts-abouts-abouts :)

And one of my favourite spots to take a break: Campbell Park

c: Iris2002

Buckinghampshire history I

Although the name Buckinghamshire is Anglo Saxon in origin meaning The district (scire) of Bucca's home (referring to Buckingham in the north of the county) the name has only been recorded since about the 12th century. The historic county itself has been in existence since it was a subdivision of the kingdom of Wessex in the 10th century. It was formed out of about 200 communities that could between them fund a castle in Buckingham, to defend against invading Danes.

c: Iris2002

Buckinghampshire history II

Some of the places in Buckinghamshire date back much further than the Anglo-Saxon period. Aylesbury, for example, is known from archaeological digs to date back at least as far as 1500 B.C. and the Icknield Way, which crosses the county, is pre-Roman in origin. There are a wealth of places that still have their Brythonic names (Penn, Wendover), or a compound of Brythonic and Anglo Saxon (Brill, Chetwode, Great Brickhill) and there are pre-Roman earthworks all over the county. Also, Cunobelinus, King of the Catuvellauni (and one of the legendary kings of the Britons) is said to have had a castle in the area which acted as an outpost (the earthworks of which still remain) and lent his name to the group of villages known as the Kimbles.

Settlement began in the area that was to become Milton Keynes around 2000BCE, mainly in the valleys of the rivers Ouse and Ouzel and their tributaries (Bradwell Brook, Shenley Brook). Archaeological excavations discovered several burial sites dating from 2000BCE to 1500BCE. Evidence for the earliest habitation was found[1] at Blue Bridge — production of flint tools from the Middle Stone Age. In the same area, an unusually large (18 metre diameter) round house was ecavated[2] and dated to the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, about 700BCE. Other excavations in this Blue Bridge/Bancroft hill-side uncovered a further seven substantial settlement sites, dating from then until 100BCE.

Roman Britain

The Roman influence on Buckinghamshire is most widely felt in the Roman roads that cross the county. Watling Street and Akeman Street both cross the county from east to west though there is circumspection that these are based on older roads. The Romans also made use of the much older Icknield Way. The first two were important trade routes linking London with other parts of Roman Britain, and the latter was used by the Romans as a line of defence.

• Pros:only Pro's :)
• In a nutshell:I might move to this part of the world soon :)