Where to have a great day out - and support a leading car-free project

Support a role model car-free project on a great day out

Are you National Trust members? We are. Like the BBC licence fee, National Trust membership feels like one of the (best value) joys of being British.

One of their most popular properties in the UK is Waddesdon: an extraordinary faux-French Victorian chateaux built in the Aylesbury Vale for the Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild.

A little understated place in the country… [copyright: Waddesdon Manor (Rothschild Foundation)]

Today it is a classic ‘something for everyone’ National Trust spectacular with vast grounds, crazy interiors, an aviary full of birds and a shedload of art.

But the reason we’re talking about it today is because it’s also a role-model project for car-free living.

You see, the National Trust dates from the era of the motor car. Your National Trust membership still arrives with a parking sticker. It’s only a few years ago that, reprehensibly, the National Trust removed all public transport instructions from their guidebook. Sometimes it feels like the National Trust is a parking company with stately homes attached.

But Waddesdon is a bit different.

Waddesdon is about 2.5 miles from Aylesbury Vale Parkway station. But the walk between the two was along the busy and unpleasant A41. The team at Waddeson wanted to make it easier for car-free journeys.

First they set up a shuttle bus from the station to Waddeson, and made it bookable for free. That was a huge step forward but there was more that could be done.

The Bristol-based charity Greenways and Cycleroutes realised the traffic-strewn horror of the A41 was paralleled by the course of the old Roman Road of Akeman Street, now marked simply by hedgerows.

The beautifully simple idea was to convert this old Roman Road back to a traffic-free greenway.

Greenways and Cycleroutes, backed by the local council and the train companies, got £1m of Department for Transport funding to create the Waddesdon Greenway.

The Waddesdon Greenway in action

It’s now possible to step off the train at Aylesbury Vale Parkway, and stroll the 2.5 miles to Waddesdon in car-free tranquility.

A role model project for the hundreds of other visitor attractions and destinations that lie, tantalisingly, out of reach from their nearest public transport hub.

Practical info:

Trains to Aylesbury Vale Parkway run from Marylebone station every hour and take just over an hour
(you can also change from the Metropolitan tube line at Harrow-on-the-Hill)
Return fare from London is appx £15 for an adult
For a family of four with a Family Railcard, appx £25

Entry to Waddesdon Manor is free for National Trust members and costs £12 (adult), £6 (kids) for everyone else.

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