13 Blissful Facts about Buckinghamshire

First published 24th August 2020 Robin James

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Buckinghamshire is an English county with more history than you might actually imagine. A southern region, it’s played a part in some of the most crucial moments in English heritage. To this day, it’s hugely popular with history fans and walkers alike, given that it’s one of the greenest counties in the whole of the UK. If you’re looking for peaceful trails to cycle or walk your dog, for example, you can’t go far wrong taking a look at Bucks in more detail.

Buckinghamshire is a little different to other English counties as a result of the size of its capital town. As you might imagine, Buckingham is the capital here – but Milton Keynes is actually the biggest town in the region. It’s also one of the youngest.
Bucks is well known for its greenery and nature reserves – and in fact, if you have a particular interest in the National Trust, you’ll find more sites in this county than any other in the UK! Worth taking a look around!
Buckinghamshire’s name dates back to ancient times and has Anglo-Saxon heritage. In fact, when translated directly, it means ‘Bucca’s Home’ or district. That’s because one of the original landowners in the region, funnily enough, was called Bucca.

Bekonscot model village, Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is home to one of the most important retreats for the Prime Minister. While they reside in London most of the year, it’s in Bucks where you’ll find Chequers, the official retreat of the UK’s PM. In fact, PMs have been coming here since 1921, meaning that it’s celebrating its 100^th year as the official holiday retreat shortly.
Bucks is also home to a record-breaking model village. Model villages on their own are fascinating enough, but Bekonscot is actually the oldest village of its kind on the planet. It’s been around since 1928, and was originally a private display, going public the year after. It’s even thought to have helped inspire the Noddy series of books, written by Enid Blyton.
Bucks is also famous for being a prime location for much of the filming for the ITV series Midsomer Murders. While DCI Barnaby does most of his crime-solving in the fictional county of Midsomer, most of it is actually based in Bucks.

What’s more, Bucks is famous for being the filming background for a wide variety of films and TV shows. It’s likely you’ll recognise some of Bucks from James Bond films and even Star Wars, for example.
Bucks has a relatively small population for a relatively large county, possibly due to its large green expanses. It’s home to just over 800,000 different people at the last count.
As well as being home to inspiration for Enid Blyton, Bucks is also a county well-known for offering exhibitions and museum trails dedicated to Roald Dahl, author of Tales of the Unexpected and a number of children’s books.

Bletchley Park, home of the famous WW2 code-breakers.

Taking the literary connection even further, it was also home to the Shelleys – Percy and Mary, the former famous for his poetry, and the latter being known for Frankenstein.
Buckinghamshire is home to Aylesbury, which is largely regarded to be the duck pond capital of the south. That’s because there are huge numbers of duck communities in the area – and it’s even home to its own type of duck, as well as a local dish.
Believe it or not, pineapples, at least in the UK, were born in Buckinghamshire. The first ever spiny tropical fruit was grown here for Charles II. However, it’s unlikely we’ve seen many more grown here since – if at all!
Buckinghamshire is home to the Paralympic Games. Specifically, it’s here where you will find Stoke Mandeville, a town where the first games of this nature were revealed back in 1948. Since then, the Paralympic Games have gone global, and traditionally take place after the main Summer Olympic Games tie up.