Stoke Row is within easy cycling distance for me, a prime attraction being the Maharajah's Well. Going past the Crooked Billet pub, shown here, is an entrance to woodland where I eventually found a work party I was tracking down one Saturday morning in the spring of 2000. I was responding to an intriguing small ad asking for help to 'excavate a puddingstone', but it gave little else away apart from a grid reference. I was introduced to a group of Chiltern Society volunteers by the friendly and enthusiastic leader, Beryl Hunt, and although I didn't realise it at the time, it was one of those turning points we sometimes get in life. March 2000*
Author:C Ormonde