GREAT OFFLEY
If you’re about to move house & you feel the need to do that last bit of self-convincing that you’ve made the right decision, it’s best to arrange for weather that, in the normal way of things, wouldn’t be an option this far west of the Mediterranean. So, on a day of specially arranged Cote d’Azur heat, we drove up to Great Offley & roamed the byways in a gradually expanding circle around Lawns Close & the new house. With both digital cameras sulking about something or other & refusing to even open shutters for a nano-second, we dug out the Canon Eos, stuck on the macro lens & went retro for a couple of reels of film. In fact, I really enjoyed the heft of the box & the entirely acoustic clunk & click with which the camera swallowed each picture. If any of you out there have been considering an act of absolutely selfless generosity, maybe to expiate sins or simply to shift some of that uncomfortable wealth, I’ll take a digital SLR off your hands just as soon as you like…
THE ROAD SOUTH TO KING’S WALDEN
Emma & Reuben are looking across the road to a beautiful late 18th/early 19th century house, which, although it appears to be derelict, is apparently occupied. Presumably a tale of Miss Haversham dimensions remains to be told here. I shall make enquiries &, if the truth is too prosaic, I shall invent alternative details.
This narrow lane is an extension of the High Street & it runs between the extensive grounds of Offley Place & new housing. At the Red Lion it forks right & runs down towards the villages of King’s Walden, Preston, Cox Green, St Paul’s Walden, Bendish & Whitwell. The area is entirely rural. Much of it is wooded & because it’s unusually hilly for Hertfordshire, there is no evidence of the industrial scale farming that is typical of much of the country – those vast, gently rolling fields, devoid of hedging or trees & bisected only by tracks for farm vehicles. This region south of Offley, almost right down to the tiny cathedral city of St Albans, has barely altered in hundreds of years. As a result, the local eco-structure is pretty much intact: skylarks still rise up from the fields; yellowhammers & hedge buntings still nest in their old haunts; long after sunset nightingales can still be heard in the copses.
THE RED LION
This is the point at which the King’s Walden Road forks abruptly to the right. The Red Lion is the last homely house of Great Offley. Of the three pubs in Offley, it’s the least pretentious, picking up most of its trade from locals & walkers & cyclists heading south towards the Waldens. The building looks to be mid-19th century, although presumably there’s been a pub on the site for centuries. ‘The Red Lion’ is probably the commonest pub name of all. Its origins are in the demand made by King James I of England VI of Scotland that his heraldic symbol, the red lion, be displayed on all buildings of importance.
OFFLEY PLACE
Offley Place is the largest & most impressive of several manor houses in the general area. It was built in 1600 by Sir Richard Spencer & it was subsequently owned by several families until, in more recent years it passed into commercial ownership. Now it operates as a conference centre & wedding venue.
4:56:39 PM 
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