TEWKESBURY AND DEERHURST with Diana and Peter Gulland. This visit wa in last year's programme but had to be cancelled due to flooding in Gloucestershire. We will go first to Tewkesbury for a guided tour of the medieval heart of the town, focusing on its unique network of alleys which were added to the town plan after the Middle Ages. There will also be time to visit the magnificent Norman abbey church and/or tour one of the three museums which cover aspects of local history (details will be provided on the coach). Later we will rejoin the coach for the 4-mile journey to the hamlet of Deerhurst, beside the River Severn. Here we will visit the mainly-ninth century minster church of St. Mary (one of the most complete Saxon buildings in England) and the neighbouring eleventh century Odda's Chapel.

Coach leaving Amersham 8.30a.m., and calling at Great Missenden 8.40; Wendover 8.50; Wendover Road/Camborne Avenue 8.55 and Aylesbury at 9.00.
Returning to Aylesbury at approx. 7.45p.m. and on to Amersham by 8.15p.m.
Price £15

For further details regarding participating contact the society.

IGHTHAM MOTE (near Sevenoaks) with George Lamb and OLDBURY HILLFORT with Michael Farley.
Ightham Mote is a rare survival of a Kentish moated manor house (dating from 1320) which retains much original fabric. Rescued from demolition in the 1950s and bequeathed to the National Trust in 1985 it was the subject of the Trust's largest conservation project (£10 million). Open on Saturdays for the first time, features include a Great Hall, Crypt and a Tudor chapel. There are gardens, water features and lakeside and woodland walks. There isa restaurant. Entry fee for non-National Trust members is £9.85
We will later move 1 1/2 miles north to Oldbury Hillfort a large, well-defended Iron Age hillfort on the edge of a steep plateau on the nothern limits of the Kentish Weald. Two phases of archaeological investigation have not produced clear answers about the origins of this site but it has been suggested that it may have been in use just prior to the Claudian conquest. Oldbury was also once the well-known site of a Palaeolithic rock shelter, a rare type of site in south-east England, but recent re-appraisal queries this.
The visit to the hillfort will involve a walk up quite steep slopes.

Coach leaving Aylesbury 9.00a.m., and calling at Wendover Road/Camborne Avenue 9.05; Wendover 9.10; Great Missenden 9.20 and Amesham at 9.30.
Returning to Amersham at approx. 7.00p.m. and on to Aylesbury at 7.30p.m.
Price £15

For further details regarding participating contact the society.

CHURCH CRAWL with Michael Hardy.
This year we will concentrate on the Milton Keynes area. We will visit a selection of churches which stood in rural villages for many centuries, but within the last 40 years have been absorbed into the new city. However, I think that the traditional landscapes have been well preserved around most of the old churches within the new city. I will consider the impact of previous planned development within the area, which was 170 years ago when the London to Birmingham railway opened. Our precise route is not yet certain, but we will visit a selection of churches which will mainly be from the following list: Great Linford, Loughton, New Wolverton, Old and New Bradwell, Shenley Church End, Simpson, Tattenhoe, Woolstone, Woughton-on-the-Green. There may also be the occasional surprise along the route, but as always, I will try to avoid those churches which we have already visited within the last 15 years.

Coach leaving Amersham 8.45a.m., and calling at Great Missenden 8.55; Wendover 9.05; Wendover Road/Camborne Avenue 9.10 and Aylesbury at 9.15.
Returning to Aylesbury at approx. 5.45p.m. and on to Amersham by 6.15p.m.
Price £15

For further details regarding participating contact the society.