Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

In my recent travels I've been to Turville. Where, you ask? Exactly. It's a tiny, little, out- of- the- way village my own (English) housemates never even heard of! (well, except one mate). We took a little country drive (and I mean little). The driving lane to this spot was narrower than Jennifer Gray's new nose.  Massive hedges grow on either side so even if you wanted to pull over to let another car by, you could not. The hedges must've been over seven feet tall on this particular part of the road into the village.  Basically it's like a green wall of ivy. But enough on the road ways in the English countryside. The entire reason for this trip was to find the pub near the old TV show setting for  The Vicar of Dibley and see the famous windmill from the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As we were driving to the pub my friend (who is an actress) pointed out the filming vans we passed by, filming another movie of sorts. Apparently a lot of that goes on around those parts.

So we reach the Brakspear pub, very English-like and I love it immediately. Inside the pub there is a 'table' you must sit at if it is available. When you enter the pub, go to the right and into the first "room", walk to the table at the front window. This "table" was once a well full of water. The pub owners have welded a glass top to what once was a water well...if you look straight down through the glass, you'll still see water at the bottom of it. So neat! The center table 'leg' is the stone well wall and they've placed chairs around it with flowers on the glass table top. A must see if you're in the area. If you walk about the little village of Turville, you'll spot one of those antique red phone booths that every tourist climbs into to take a photo. Next, you can visit the parish church and see where The Vicar of Dibley was filmed.

http://www.thebullandbutcher.com/#

As you leave the pub turn to your left and look up the hill. Atop that green hill stands the infamous Cobstone Windmill from the lovely film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where in the film, Dick Van Dyke creates his wondrous inventions. On a good day, one without rain; (which will be difficult to find because...well...it IS England after all...or Isle of Rain as I like to refer to it),  you can climb up the hill for a closer look at the wonderful windmill.

So if you're up for a day in the country, why not stop by the Brakspear pub for a pint --or in my case a half pint ;) and check out Buckinghamshire. Until my next adventure...Cheers!