1st May 2019 Spring Walk
This year Gwyndaf added a visit to a local church to our Spring Walk.
We all met at the Red Lion pub in Little Missenden at 10:00 to order our lunches for later. Then 22 walkers set off on a 3 mile walk in the hills around the village.
We started off following the River Misbourne and in the first field we passed we saw a curious collection of animals – pot-bellied Vietnamese pigs, funny looking sheep that turned out to be goats and a magnificent turkey displaying for his harem of females.
In the next field we discovered an archaeological party surveying the field. They explained that they had detected signs of very old buildings (possibly Roman) close to the river and were tracing out the shape of the building with a view to a future dig.
We then followed the South Bucks Way footpath up the hill with wild flowers on either side. Janet John pointed out some of the flowers, and when we reached the top of the hill, she introduced us to the flowers and explained their common names.
From here we were able to admire the views across the Misbourne Valley.
The weather continued to be fine and we didn’t need our coats, as we turned back towards the village pub, 
chatting and getting to know other members of the society. We arrived back at the Red Lion just before 12:00 after walking about 3 miles. There we were met by others who had come for the church tour, and there were over 30 of us when we sat down to lunch.
The food proved to be very good, with a wide choice from sandwiches to belly pork and sea bass. We also had time to sample the beer and watch the carp in a pond in the back garden.
About 2pm we walked the hundred 
yards or so to the village church, The Church of St John the Baptist, where we were met by the vicar, the Reverend John Simpson.
We were treated to a guided tour of the church and told that the original church dates back to Saxon times (about 975 AD). It was then added to by the Normans and by successive villagers over the centuries. The original Saxon church is very visible and you can see where the exterior walls and windows were.
The highlight of the visit was to see the medieval paintings on the church walls. There are a number of pictures on various walls, but the main ones on the north wall of the church show St Christopher and cartoons of St Catherine showing scenes from her life. The paintings have been declared ‘of national importance’ by the Courtaulds Institute and have recently been restored after receiving a grant from the heritage fund. During the restoration even more fragments of paintings were found on other walls around the church, dating from the 13th century and through to the reigns of Elizabethan and William and Mary.
The vicar made an excellent and enthusiastic tour guide, pointing out so many features of this old church that might otherwise have been missed. Our tour lasted about 1 hour and we were very impressed to see such artwork on our doorstep. You can find out more about the church and its paintings here: www.lmchurch.org
Many thanks to Gwyndaf and Janet John for organising such a fun and educational day.