Chilterns Stories
Chilterns Stories is a collection of ten tales inspired by the diverse cultural and natural heritage of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to provide new ways for people living and working in the area to appreciate the value of the landscape all around.
Sour Cherry Soup
Playwright Sara Clifford was commissioned as Writer in Residence by South Downs National Park/ Applause Rural Touring Agency in 2019, which resulted in a show Cherry Soup inspired by participants’ stories, which toured rural venues across the Park. Cherry Soup was recommissioned for 2023 as Sour Cherry Soup by the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs partnership in the Chilterns.
The show is imagined with one actor taking the role of the cherry seller by the side of the road, who hears the different stories of the people who stop to buy fruit, reflecting the wide variety of people who live, work and walk in the Park. Sour Cherry Soup, the book, will be launched in February 2023.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection, from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape partnership scheme.
£4.99 plus £2 P&P – pre-order now for delivery June 2023
Book tickets to one of our upcoming Sour Cherry Soup outdoor performances here!
Sour Cherry Soup co-creation workshops
During January – March 2023, a series of interactive creative writing workshops are taking place, exploring the sights and sounds of the Chilterns AONB, including our memories and stories about the past, present and future.
These inputs will be used to enhance our Sour Cherry Soup book, adding community contributions about the Chilterns, which will then result in a new production of Sour Cherry Soup, which will tour in June 2023 as part of the Chilterns Drama festival.
Book your place at a workshop now:
The Ballad of Bodgers Wood
A new ballad for little ones, written by acclaimed children’s poet, Rachel Rooney, and illustrated by Ekta Bajaj and Paul Aherne.
It explores the lives of two children at the turn of the industrial revolution, who are drawn together over a love for the Chiltern woods and the magic therein. Tradition and modernity set among the leafy, ancient beech woodlands of old Buckinghamshire. When Majorie meets apprentice Bodger boy Arthur they teach each other about their different lives. Their adventures together in the Hampden Woods soon turn to disaster but it becomes a valuable opportunity to learn another lesson from each other, on our hopes for the future.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection, from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape partnership scheme.
Order printed copy: £4.99 plus £2 P&P
Metroland
Metroland was Julian Barnes’s first novel, which draws heavily on his personal experiences growing up in the suburbs of London.
In November 2022, The Chalk Cherries and Chairs Landscape Partnership in association with the Being Human Festival presented ‘A Return to Metroland: Julian Barnes in conversation’, at Amersham Museum. Booker Prize winning writer Julian Barnes with Sebastian Groes and Geeta Ludhra joined Sean Keegan in conversation about the echoes of Britain’s changing identity and the sense of place in modern literary fiction. Check back soon for the video recording of the event.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection, from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape partnership scheme.
Order printed copy: £8.99 plus £2 P&P
Fantastic Mr Fox
The famous children’s novel Fantastic Mr. Fox is about three farmers, who are losing food to Mr. Fox and his family. The three farmers dig after Mr. Fox and trap him until he outsmarts them and digs tunnels sideways to the farms. He steals food and cider from the farmers and has a great feast with all the other animals. The animals then decide to stay underground and use the tunnels for food while the farmers forever wait outside the hole.
Watch out for a children’s event to celebrate Fantastic Mr Fox, coming soon in 2023!
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection, from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape partnership scheme.
Order printed copy: £6.99 plus £2 P&P
In Their Own Words
In Their Own Words is a book of fascinating of oral histories, accompanied by 9 online videos. It is quite rare to find ordinary working people’s accounts of what it was like in the past, and these ‘oral history’ interviews capture people’s personal experiences, giving us an eyewitness account of events, places and people.
Volunteer researchers working for the Woodlanders’ Lives and Landscapes community social history project in the Chilterns are very lucky to have discovered three important collections of oral history interviews. These interviews, which until now, have largely remained hidden in public and private archives, were recorded onto reel-to-reel and cassette tape between the 1950s and the 1980s by some remarkable local historians.
Part of the Chilterns Stories collection, from the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs Landscape partnership scheme.
£4.99 plus £2 P&P – pre-order now for delivery end of March 2023
Coming soon
Further books in the Chilterns Stories collection, coming soon…
- Something about This Place, by children of the Chilterns – an essay competition run in conjunction with Wycombe Museum
- Red – A Birds Eye View of Persecution and Survival
- Sit Down Here – Wycombe Chair Designs
- Grims Ditch – An Introduction to Archaeology
- Tales of the Riverbank – Otters on the River Wye
The further books in our collection will explore the successful reintroduction of Red Kites to the area, the repopulation of rare fauna in our precious chalk streams, the story of Chilterns chair designs and a collection of all the winning entries to our local school essay writing competition.
In 2023, the full collection of stories will be presented by Chalk, Cherries and Chairs – the Chilterns Landscape Partnership scheme – to school and public libraries across the area, as well as to community libraries, independent book clubs, museum collections and our own local community organisation partners in village halls, local history groups and conservation societies. To submit your interest in your group receiving the books, please email ccc@chilternsaonb.org.
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