An idiots guide to an idiot: Whipsnade walk.

We took our doggie guest, Charlie, out for a walk yesterday. The weather was glorious, we didn't go far, just to the Tree Cathedral. It's very pleasant there, it's laid out like a medieval cathedral would have been and built by Edmund Blyth in memory of three of his friends.
All four had served in the trenches of World War One. Arthur Bailey and John Bennett were both killed in action during the big German push on the allied lines in March 1918. I have checked the Commonwealth Wargraves Commission site to try to identify these two men. I couldn't conclusively find them but using the dates of the German attack ( Operation Michel) of March 1918 I think Arthur Bailey could have been a Lieutenant with the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry killed in action on 24th March 1918 & remembered on the memorial at Arras aged 19 & John Bennett possibly a 2nd Lieutenant in the 3rd Bn The Rifle Brigade killed in action on 28th March 1918 and remembered on the Pozieres Memorial. His age was 22.
Blyth's third friend Francis Holland survived the war but was killed in a car crash in Canada in 1930.
Work on the cathedral was started in 1930, interrupted in 1939 as Blyth was called up to his old regiment. By 1947 when he was demobbed the site was very overgrown but by 1952 the first service was held there.
It was given to the National Trust in 1960, there's also nearby cottages called 'Bailey Cottage' & 'Bennett Cottage' which Blyth brought to give cheap holidays for people in London, Edmund Blyth lived in 'Blythwood' and died in 1968. His son Tom continued to manage the site until his death in 1978. He also gave nearby 'Windy Sales' to the Guide movement but these days the Scouts use it too.
There's 22 different types of tree planted here and 14 types of flowering shrubs, it's a place I often walked with our dogs and never disappoints.
Afterwards we repaired to the Old Hunters Lodge for a beer. The pleasantly cool Tawny Owl Ale by Tring Brewery was on tap, it slipped down a treat I can tell you! Popped in on Ella & Julian after as well.