Hidden Henley

It was about twenty years or so ago when this car park and leisure spot going out on the A404 to nearby Bisham was sealed off to join the ever-growing ranks of inaccessible public open spaces. Now it’s an unused, overgrown tangle of small trees, shrubs and nettles, as you can see in my picture, and seems to me to be a dreadful waste. The tarmac surface has disintegrated. You can just see the dual carriageway towards the back of my photo.

It may be that the local authority had one too many incidents of rubbish being dumped, plus vehicles being abandoned, and called time. I don’t remember it being publicised. Prior to that we could enjoy a quiet parking area able to take about 25 vehicles which gave easy access to numerous public footpaths through the surrounding countryside – up to Maidenhead Thicket and down to the Thames at Temple and Hurley. Even picnic trestles were provided on a raised bank overlooking an ancient beech avenue.

Stopping places for motorists are extremely important. Van drivers who help to keep shelves stocked for our convenience in shops must take a break for their own – and our – safety and sanity. Service engineers or other professional drivers need to stop, eat their sandwiches and sip from their Thermos’s and complete paperwork or make business phone calls. Ramblers and dog walkers should have some rural parking places. Yet so many lay-bys and stopping places have been closed down. Four other such places around here: an huge crescent of land near the Ridgeway at Christmas Common, a rectangular tree-lined parking spot on the Watlington Road near Cookley Green, a sizeable raised-up lay-by on the Wallingford road just before Crowmarsh Hill, and another that was near Devil’s Hill between Harpsden and Sonning Common.

Am I alone in valuing these roadside rest areas both for road safety and our own well-being?