hiya bucks Amersham, Beaconsfield, Chesham, Gerrards Cross, Missenden January 2017 | Page 32

This month Hiya Bucks visited ...
made the effort .

Coombe Hill

On a dark , damp and dull day in December we set off to discover somewhere in Buckinghamshire we hadn ’ t visited before . Such is our dedication to you , our readers , that we continued with our plans to visit the highest viewpoint in the Chilterns , or in fact Buckinghamshire , on the most depressing of days . Coombe Hill stands at 260 m above sea level .
In true British style we soldiered on , through wind and rain , to visit the monument at the top of Coombe Hill . Built in memory of the 148 men of Buckinghamshire who gave their lives in South Africa during the Boer War of 1899-1902 , it stands tall and proud . No doubt the conditions these brave men faced were a million times worse than the miserable weather we were facing and we were glad we had
Coombe Hill monument was originally built in 1904 . In 1938 it was badly damaged by a lightning strike and was rebuilt later that year . In 2010 a full restoration took place which included replacing the bronze tablet that lists the names of all 148 men lost . With views allegedly reaching as far as the Cotswolds we could only imagine how good they were . Our view today was hardly further than the end of our noses ! Thankfully the yellow blooms of the gorse bushes meant we could at least take one photograph that had colour in it .
It took us about 30 minutes to drive to Coombe Hill from Wooburn Green , firstly along the A355 Beaconsfield-Amersham road and then along the A413 Amersham- Aylesbury Road . We turned left towards
32 To advertise in Hiya Bucks text or call 07947 349134