Come walk with me to Taplow

Today we’re really staying close to home in accordance with those good old coronavirus guidelines. Taplow is literally across the river from Maidenhead. Cross the Thames and you are in fact in another county – Buckinghamshire.

Bucks is famous for being posh. It’s the third most expensive place to live in the UK after London and Surrey. The PM has his country residence here, Chequers. The county is also home to the Chiltern Hills, Silverstone Racetrack and Pinewood Studios.

We start today’s ramble on Ray Mill Island. There are more than 80 islands in the Thames, many of which you can visit. The largest is the Isle of Sheppey in the estuary at the river’s mouth. This is just a small one, with a few houses and a restaurant which has gorgeous views from the first floor balcony bar. Not today, alas.

We’re celebrity spotting again here, although the pickings are slim – broadcaster Richard Dimbleby lived here, and an episode of Mr Bean was filmed next to the lock. Wow. Did I tell you I cannot stand Mr Bean?

A bridge was built in 2018 to connect the island with the opposite bank of the river Thames, so across we go to Taplow. Easy peasy.

I’ve written before about the tendancy of the Thames to flood. The Jubilee River is a hydraulic channel that was constructed in the late 1990s to protect Maidenhead, Windsor and Eton from the river. It runs parallel to the Thames for 11.5 miles and cost £110 million to build. It basically takes excess water and dumps it downstream on the poor residents of Datchet! As unsuspecting newcomers to the area, we thought about buying a house in Datchet, only to see the actual purchaser crying on the news, with their home under several feet of water. Lucky escape for us!

The Bucks riverbank has been developed over the last few years, with new parks and pathways around a very expensive housing development. It’s greening over nicely now, but at some points in the last few years, I wanted to cry looking across and seeing bulldozers instead of trees. Taplow Riverside is very tastefully landscaped, and some lovely old derelict buildings have been saved and spruced up, so it could be much worse.

Taplow is Anglo Saxon for Taeppa’s barrow, an ancient burial mound that was excavated many years ago. Old Taeppa was obviously a weathy man – the contents were important enough to end up in the British Museum.

Like all the best English villages, Taplow has an attractive green, a lovely old church and a decent pub. Oh, and a sprinkling of celebrity gold dust – Dusty Springfield and Sir Terry Wogan both lived here during their lives. Ant Mcpartlin got married here in St Nicholas’ Church before nipping a few miles up the road to Cliveden for his reception. I’m pretty sure Dec was here too, and I bet that party was a proper knees up!

The Oak and Saw pub dates back to 1870 and gets its name from the fact that old wooden warships used to sail up the Thames to be decommissioned here. It was voted Best Pub in Maidenhead in 2017. Yes, we’ve had a snifter here in happier times. Today we walk on by and head along a footpath to the right.

The husband, who prides himself on his eye for detail, points out the traditional style of the fencing along the pathway. Apparently he saw Price Charles doing some fence building on the telly and it looked just the same. I’m not convinced that the person who did this particular fence is an expert, Price Charles could do better I’m sure!

We walk across fields and past some old farm buildings until we reach the A4, or Bath Road, once known as the Great West Road. In the 17th century Charles I ordered the building of six ‘Great Roads’ to aid postal deliveries. At the time, it took about 17 hours to travel between Bristol and London. Nowadays the M4 is a quicker route, unless you hit a traffic jam, when you might feel that nothing much has changed.

Turning right here along the road, we meet the Jubilee River again and meander back upstream along its banks.

The Thames is a haven for birds, despite being quite a popular place to walk. Here along the Jubilee it’s really tranquil, which is probably why we see a lot of babies – goslings and ducklings paddling along madly behind Mum.

Up on a hill to our right sits Taplow Court, a manor house that used to belong to the Earls of Orkney. It’s now owned by a Buddhist society which aims to contribute to a more harmonious world through cultural and educational activity. Good for them. It’s a beautiful building, I’m sure that helps to develop harmony.

We’ve circled back around to Taplow Riverside, and wonder through the parkland back to the Thames. Families, cyclists and runners are all making the most of the open space on a lovely sunny day. We applaud a boy who’s just learnt to ride his bike without stabilisers. What a moment that is for any kid. His mum looks delighted. It could be any normal day, that’s the beauty of walking, it lets you forget the bad stuff. Get out there everyone.