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If you find yourself in or around Beaconsfield with nothing to do or are not sure about what you’ll find there, you’ll want to have a look at these fun things to keep you busy.
The Bekonscot Model Village
Starting in his back-garden way back in 1929, local accountant Roland Callingham began constructing a model village as a hobby. It mirrored what any British rural village might look like between the first and second world wars. The name is a joining of Beaconsfield and Ascot to form Bekonscot. The model village has come some way since it first occupied Roland Callingham’s garden, and now spans an impressive two acres at a scale of 1:12.
Inside the Bekonscot model village, you’ll find scale models of castles, windmills, mines, and even a full fishing port. The Ascot Racecourse also features, of course. The train, a gauge 1 model build, takes a full eight minutes to complete its circuit of track.
Odds Farm Park
You’ll want to keep most of a day open for this one! Odds Farm Park is a petting zoo of sorts, but with a difference. You’ll find the usual animals here – goats, sheep, chickens, cows, rabbits, pigs, and donkeys, and it’s open all year. No matter when you visit, you’re likely to see some baby animals and if you’re lucky enough to visit in the spring, you’ll get a chance to bottle feed a baby goat – and be around for lamb season.
The Odds Farm Park’s claim to fame isn’t that it’s a petting zoo, however. It’s also home to many rare breeds of these animals. Examples include the Bagot Goat and middle white pig, both with less than 200 breeding females left.
The Greyhound Inn
Once it’s time to find where to eat in Beaconsfield, you won’t have to look for too long. For the hungry, there’s no better pub to visit and nothing more appetising in Beaconsfield than the Greyhound Inn menu. The Greyhound Beconsfield is located in a grade 2 listed 17th-century former coaching inn and offers the most delicious and picture-perfect gastro pub meals you could think of.
Milton’s Cottage
John Milton is a famous poet from the 1800s, whose most famous works include the likes of Paradise Lost, When I Consider How My Light Is Spent, and many others. It’s no surprise then that this cottage made of half-timbers and home to John Milton for a short while is on the list of must-see attractions in Beaconsfield. It’s said that this very cottage is where he wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, amongst others. Ironically, if you lay eyes on this cottage, located in Chalfont St Giles, you’ll have seen more of it than he did – because he was completely blind for his tenure there.
Inside the cottage, you’ll find an impressive collection of first editions of Milton’s works, and don’t forget to pay the garden a visit while you’re there because it’s planted to reflect the garden that might have been there in the 17th century.
The Chilterns
If you head just a little out of town to the north or west of Beaconsfield, you’ll come upon the Chilterns. They’re a chalk hill range, and they’re a quintessential British rolling countryside that comes straight out of a storybook. For the most part, these hills are gentle and not very steep, but to the northwest, more pronounced hills like Coombe Hill and Haddington Hill await the braver adventurer.
Now that you have a list of things you’ll have to see if you’re visiting Beaconsfield, you have no excuse not to get lost in the magic of the area. In fact, if you see this list without plans to visit, you’ll probably be making plans before you hit the end!
