Buckinghamshire, abbreviated as Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.
High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe, is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is 29 miles (47 km) west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, 13 miles (21 km) south-southeast of Aylesbury, 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Oxford, 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Reading and 8 miles (13 km) north of Maidenhead.
The Chiltern Hills are a chalk escarpment in the UK northwest of London, covering 660 square miles (1,700 km2) across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire, stretching 45 miles (72 km) from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast. The hills are 12 miles (19 km) at their widest.
Downley is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, which was included in Wycombe district before its abolition. It is high in the Chiltern Hills, overlooking the town of High Wycombe, although today it is almost indistinguishable from the urban spread of the latter town.
Stokenchurch is a village and civil parish in south-west Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about 3 miles (5 km) south of Chinnor in Oxfordshire and 6 miles (10 km) west of High Wycombe. Stokenchurch is a commuter village, served by junction 5 of the M40 motorway to London, Oxford and Birmingham. The Stokenchurch BT Tower, to the west of the village, is a highly visible landmark on the edge of the Chilterns and pinpoints the village's location for miles ahead.
Royal Air Force High Wycombe or more simply RAF High Wycombe is a Royal Air Force station, situated in the village of Walters Ash, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England. It houses Headquarters Air Command, and was originally designed to house RAF Bomber Command in the late 1930s. The station is also the headquarters of the European Air Group and the United Kingdom Space Command.
Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) is a public university in Buckinghamshire, England, with campuses in High Wycombe, Aylesbury, Uxbridge and Great Missenden. The institution dates from 1891, when it was founded as the School of Science and Art, and has since then has variously been known as Wycombe Technical Institute, High Wycombe College of Technology and Art and the Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education. It was a university college from 1999 until 2007, when its application for university status was accepted.
The River Wye is a river in Buckinghamshire, England. It takes its name from the town of High Wycombe through which it flows, rather than the town being named after the river, as is more commonly the case.
The Denham Roundabout is a road junction in Denham, Buckinghamshire. It was originally opened in 1943 in conjunction with the completion of the new Western Avenue route into west London. The Western Avenue took over the classification of the A40, with the previous route to London, via Uxbridge and Ealing, being reclassified as the A4020. The roundabout also included a new link to A412 that formed part of the outer London orbital route.
A Windsor chair is a chair built with a solid wooden seat into which the chair-back and legs are round-tenoned, or pushed into drilled holes, in contrast to other styles of chairs whose back legs and back uprights are continuous. The seats of Windsor chairs are often carved into a shallow dish or saddle shape for comfort. Traditionally, the legs, stretchers, and uprights were usually turned on a pole lathe. Spindles may also be carved, using drawknives and spokeshaves. The back and sometimes the arm pieces are formed from steam bent pieces of wood. Traditional Windsors are typically painted, primarily to hide the different types of wood used in construction, based on their characteristics.
Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM) is an independent open-air museum of vernacular buildings and a tourist attraction located near Chalfont St Peter and Chalfont St. Giles in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England. Its collection consists mainly of historic buildings at risk of demolition that have been dismantled and reconstructed in the museum grounds in a process of structure relocation.
Wycombe Marsh is an area of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It lies on the River Wye and the A40 road, approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east of High Wycombe town centre, and approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of Loudwater. Wycombe Marsh is in the Ryemead ward of High Wycombe, which had a population of 7,188 at the 2011 census.
Lucian Randolph Ercolani, was an Italian furniture designer born in St Angelo in Vado Marche Italy later emigrating to London, England with his family. He began his career in furniture manufacture with the Salvation Army joinery department, later joining Frederick Parker. In 1920, Ercolani had joined a furniture-making consortium in High Wycombe, trading as Furniture Industries. The business expanded through acquisition, and government orders during World War II for wooden tent pegs and bentwood chairs ensured its success. In the late-1940s, Ercolani developed his range of mass-produced Ercol furniture, which became a household name in post-war Britain, and which continues today.
Ercol is the name of a British furniture manufacturer. The firm dates back to 1920, when it was established in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, as Furniture Industries by Lucian Ercolani (1888–1976).
Wycombe Museum is a free local museum located in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. It is run by Wycombe Heritage and Arts Trust, as of 1 December 2016. It was previously run by Wycombe District Council.
Bodging is a traditional woodturning craft, using green (unseasoned) wood to make chair legs and other cylindrical parts of chairs. The work was done close to where a tree was felled. The itinerant craftsman who made the chair legs was known as a bodger or chair-bodger. According to Collins Dictionary, the use of the term bodger in reference to green woodworking appeared between 1799 and 1827 and, to a much lesser extent, from 1877 to 1886 and from 1939 to present.
Beacon's Bottom, also known as Bacon's Bottom, is a hamlet on the A40 between Piddington and Stokenchurch in England. Until 1895 it was administratively part of Oxfordshire, and was transferred to Buckinghamshire with its parent parish Stokenchurch in 1896. It was one of the principal sites of High Wycombe's 19th Century chair-making industry, known locally as bodging.
Parker Knoll is a British furniture manufacturing company, formed in 1931 by British furniture manufacturer Frederick Parker and Willi Knoll, a German inventor of a new form of sprung furniture. With roots in the manufacture of high-quality furniture, the brand concentrated on mass-market products from the 1930s to the 1990s. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1950, but taken private in 2004. After financial difficulties, it was acquired out of administration by Sofa Brands International.
