Day 13: Wednesday 10 May 2023
Well that was a different start today, no chauffeur, instead we took an easy train from Newbury to Reading on a beautifully sunny morning and retraced our steps across the road to where we finished last time.
Reading is famous for ... me ... Emily I was born here and biscuits!
Huntley & Palmers started life in 1822, a bit before me, as a small bakery on the London to Bath road. In 1846, the firm opened a large factory on Reading's Kings Road. By 1900, it was the largest biscuit manufacturer in the world, making over 400 types of biscuits and employing over 5,000 people. Biscuit production at Reading finally ended in 1976.
When I was little you could smell the biscuits in town from the factory chimneys!
(Reading Football Club was formed in 1871 and the club would go on to become known as 'The Biscuitmen').
Anyway enough of biscuits and back to the Thames Path ...
We're still in walking boots as we knew there were still some meadows to walk through that may have been boggy from the recent rain.
(Looking back towards Reading and Caversham)
The riverbanks were full of horse chestnut flowers, they stand like candles on the tree branches and are white, they turn to a yellow shade when they open, once pollinated they change colour to pink!
Just around here through the hedge is the wonderful Thames Lido, Reading's outdoor pool, restaurant and treatment rooms, it's amazing, but we will have to return another time.
We came into Thames Valley Park Nature Reserve, which was a lovely big open space, full of ducks and geese, grass and daisies, wildflowers and grasses.
These white ones had so much to say to us!
It is here that the Kennet and Avon Canal crosses into the Thames, the canal is 87 miles long and you can walk alongside it through Newbury, Hungerford and onto Bath/Bristol to the Bristol channel.
"The Kennet swift for silver eels renowned'
Alexander Pope
After the meadow you walk through a lovely wood, known as The Wildwood.
It was a lovely stretch of the river for walking, ever so peaceful and shaded.
We soon arrived into Sonning village, a very well known village, and not just because it's where George Clooney lives (when it's not flooded).
In the 10th and 11th Centuries it was the centre of the Diocese of Berkshire and Wiltshire.
Firstly we went past the Lock, in the 19th Century the lock-keeper James Sadler, a poet, wrote this about his village:
'Is there a spot more lovely than the rest,
By art improved, by nature truly blest?
A noble river at its base is running,
It is a little village known as Sonning'.
Here's The Environment Agency giving us a wave whilst giving the swans a shout to move on out of their way.
This is a beautiful bridge and was once claimed to be considered the most beautiful on the river. One half of the bridge is in Oxfordshire and the other half in Berkshire!
Sonning is a very pretty village, with rose and honeysuckle fronted houses, thatched houses, it is beautifully kept and very expensive. There are 2 pubs here The Bull Inn and The Coppa Club, but we stopped at neither as we weren't ready for a break, instead we crossed over the bridge.
On the left hand side of the road, shown below is The Mill at Sonning, an 18th Century converted flour mill, below is the entrance, it is a 215 seated riverside theatre, with dining. And just behind it is the Clooney's house, nicely tucked away.
(photo Vagner Vidal)
We crossed over again for the other side of the Thames Path route, the clouds were starting to form, we were praying for it to stay dry, showers weren't due til about 4pm and we were 3 miles from Shiplake at this point.
Just across from here is Uri Geller's house, currently for sale if you have a spare £7.5million and want a house that looks like the US White House!
It was built in 1970, Geller bought it in 1986, it has 4 acres and 110 metres of river frontage and the house has 15,000sq ft of space.
And he has cut £7 million from his original price of £15 million in 2015 when it was last on the market. Bargain.
We had some boggy and very muddy areas to contend with around this section.
Some interesting houses across the river, this one was being built.
As we walked towards Shiplake with greying skies, we did finally get the showers, the ground was so wet around here as it led us to the lower grounds of Shiplake College and it's Boathouse.
Shiplake is a private boarding and day school with just over 500 pupils.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Shiplake Court was part of the property of the Englefield family.
The land on which the school now stands was bought at auction by Robert Harrison in 1888 as his private family residence. Sold to Lord Wargrave in 1925, followed by a stint as a small prep school, it then sold to the BBC in 1941.
The BBC had intented to use Shiplake for expanding their overseas services, but appeared to just become storage. When the BBC Monitoring Service moved to Caversham Park, Shiplake became a hostel for the BBC staff. The hostel closed in 1953 and the BBC struggled to think of what to do with the building, there were rumours of using it to house the BBC Library.
In 1958 it was bought by the Everetts for educational purposes and it opened in May 1959.
It's a beautiful and peaceful stretch of the river for a school, especially for those who take up rowing!
We didn't get to see the small village of Shiplake. Queen Victoria's poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) married Emily Smallwood in the church of St Peter and St Paul.
Rumour has it he didn't pay the vicar for taking the marriage ceremony and instead composed a poem as a gift to the church:
'Vicar of this pleasant spot,
Where it was my chance to marry,
Happy, happy be your lot,
In the vicarage by the quarry'.
George Orwell had his childhood home in Lower Shiplake.
We came to Shiplake Lock, it is just above the point where the River Loddon joins the Thames.
It was the first lock on the Thames to have hydraulic power installed.
The path takes you away from the River here.
We found this fascinating back gate .... I would love to know it's story.
Then the heavens opened, and it wasn't a light shower! We were really pleased to be under a bridge, even if it was the leakiest bridge to be under in a rain storm!
Then we heard thunder getting closer, and were like "whoaaah", before we realised we were under a train bridge, as the train swept overhead!
We braved coming out from under the bridge, after the worst was over.
Up on the hill is Wargrave Manor, owned by the Sultan of Oman, it will certainly have stunning views. He died in 2020 but it is still owned by the family.
Emma 'Fair Maid of Normandy' (AD990-1052), twice Queen of England, lived in Wargrave as the first holder of a Wargrave Manor. Her son Edward the Confessor was born here.
You can see some of Wargrave on the other side of the river, St Mary's Church was rebuilt after it was burned to the ground in 1914 by suffragettes, led by Emmeline Pankhurst herself, due to the Vicar refusing to take the word 'obey' out of the marriage vows, so the tale goes!
Below is The George & Dragon pub, where I remember sitting last year outside on it's deck, seeing the Thames Path on the other side thinking I wonder when we'll be walking past, and here we are!
Amazing cloud, looks like someone is blowing in the grey weather for us!
At Lashbrook the Thames Path turns away from the river bank, alongside Ferry Cottage, which is now a private home, a ferry operated here until 1953.
The Lashbrook Ferry started operating in 1770s as a result of property owners not giving towing permission across their land.
The river became a major freight route in the mid 17th century when barges could reach Oxford for the first time, firstly hauled by men, then by horses. In 1775 there were issues arising due to this and the need for the ferry here at Lashbrook and the Bolney Ferry further along, just for one man, the owner of Bolney Court.
So we had a short walk through incredibly wet flooded meadows and hunger was starting to kick in!
We arrived in the village of Lower Shiplake, which appears that to live there and belong you have to grow wisteria over the front of your house, amazing! And we found a pub!
As it was post Coronation weekend the bunting was still out, works were going on so there was no food available, but they were very happy for us to eat our picnic in the pub garden with some drinks, next to a wisteria! We had walked 7.5 miles, 20,000 steps and were feeling a little weary.
Just down from the hotel was Shiplake station and the first rail crossing of our journey.
I had to photograph the occasion!
Down some narrow pathways, and Bolney Road which has incredibly impressive riverside houses behind huge gates and security, tennis courts, swimming pools and even some golf greens and bunkers!
We couldn't see but it's this section where Grand Designs followed a couple building their dream house by the river:
This house below has a narrow-gauge railway going through it's 8 acres of garden! It's station is modelled on St Moritz station. The house Thames-Side Court was built in 1914 and is the home of Swiss billionaire financier, art collector, polo enthusiast Urs Schwarzenbach.
He owns substantial property in the area including Culham Court, which he bought for £35 million, £10 million over the asking price!
(There are some lovely photos of the garden at Culham Court HERE)
Back to the river at last, and the sun was shining.
As we neared Henley the waterproofs came out again!
We were entering an area known as Marsh Lock, in the book 'Three Men in a Boat', Jerome wrote; 'It is a part of the river in which to dream of bygone days'.
Unfortunately the main section through here was diverted, the lock, weir and bridge were designed by a country parson whose brother was Thomas Gainsborough, the famous artist. There is a lovely long wooded causeway to walk along, with always plenty of boats to see here.
We just stood under some trees and literally inside a hedge to shelter from the showers.
Marsh Mill was found along this spot of The Thames and my great great Grandad bought it in 1903, there's some history for you!
Percy Owen Payze (1853-1929)
His father was a corn merchant in Leytonstone and Percy was clerk to a corn merchant aged 18, then an Improver Apprentice at Hambledon Mill. In 1881 he became the Miller at Tidmarsh Mill, followed 10 years later at Whitchurch-on-Thames Mill.
Charlotte died and he remarried Mary and had 3 more children Arthur, Reg and Fred, Fred was my Grandad (born in 1898).
They sold Marsh Mill in 1920 and retired to Henley.
In a sales catalogue of 1895 the Mill was described as a Mill working on a combined system with seven pair stones, two pair 'Meddling Rolls' and two waterwheels of 60 horse power. It was lit by electricity, and fitted throuhout with Hopkinson's patent machinery. The Mill also provided stabling, cow houses, a piggery and entrance lodge for a site foreman.
By the 1960s, Marsh Mills had fallen into disrepair, and was later demolished and replaced with flats.
(Thanks to www.new.millsarchives.org for info and being the registered charity dedicated to the preservation and protection of the records of milling history).
Back to the present day, we came out of our diversion into Marsh Meadows, very boggy ..
There is plenty going on in Marsh Meadows, it's a great spot for a playground, picnics, a band stand and boat watching, it's the main green space park in Henley. It has a lovely wide pavement along the riverside, a proper 'promenade'.
It opened in 1998 and won an award when it opened due to it's architecture, it includes a cafe, shop and a wonderful Wind in the Willows exhibition/experience for children.
We came upon the train station which marked the end of our walk, a total of 26,500 steps and nearly 11 miles today. We caught the 16:30 train from Henley, changed at Twyford to Reading and back to Newbury, all in just 45 minutes.
For our next walk, which will be Henley to Marlow, my Dad will be joining us to regale us with stories and history of Henley and the area as we walk through it.
Stories such as hanging out with Petula Clark in a nearby Henley pub in his youth!? ... we can't wait!
We are slightly worried about his pace, he may leave us in his wake puffing somewhat, he's 86 and an 'official walker' - he completed the South West Coast Path only a few years ago.
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment