Hello my lovely people. I’m making a comeback here on Hive after being hardly around for a while. Hope you’re keeping well?
The above photo was taken on our evening walk from our front door and out to the meadows. The sky looked menacing and it delivered, in the form of hail! We took shelter under a shelter we found near the cricket pavilion. I think they use it for such situations in a middle of a game. Talking of which the first ever season starts this May, as it’s a new facility.
Earlier in the day we headed 20 miles or so down the road to Hughendon House which is just outside High Wycombe, the former home of Benjamin Disraeli, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice:
1. First term: February 1868 – December 1868
2. Second term: February 1874 – April 1880
It was a fascinating visit but for me, the most staggering piece of history was this:
In 2004 a volunteer overheard a grandfather tell his grandson that none of it looked like it did during the war years because it had served as a top secret map making facility.
The Ice House at Hughenden House, originally built to store ice harvested during the winter, took on a remarkable new role during the Second World War. Requisitioned by the government, it was transformed into a top secret dark room used for developing aerial reconnaissance photographs. These images were crucial for creating accurate maps and planning military operations, making the humble Ice House an unexpected hub of wartime intelligence work. Its involvement remained a closely guarded secret for decades, only coming to light when former visitors recounted their memories of the estate’s hidden history.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io