IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Drayton Beauchamp, AYLESBURY, HP22 5LU

This would appear to be currently a private house with no evidence of active farming.

Viewed from the footpath from the Upper Icknield Way.

This was taken from the stile on the footpath from Tring to Drayton Beauchamp and it seems likely that the path once ran directly across the field towards the farm. However it has been rerouted round the field to the left.

This is the downstream end of that section of the canal that currently retains water. Immediately to the north-east of here, and in Image, active restoration works by the Wendover Arm Trust http://www.wendoverarmtrust.co.uk/AboutUs/AboutUs.html are in progress. The bridge in the distance is Drayton Bridge, while in the foreground a mother moorhen has found a handy plank to stand on while her chicks can stand unsupported on the thin layer of weed on the water surface.

A smallholding immediately adjacent to the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

This part of the canal was relined when the A41 dual carriageway was built, and vegetation is growing up along the banks and in some places right across the canal. The water runs crystal clear and with plenty of duckweed - but this will change to a muddy soup when canal barges start using it again in a few years time, after a break of over 100 years.

The Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal has been undergoing restoration for many years. The section seen here has not yet been restored to navigation as it does not connect up with the fully restored portion. There is plenty of water in this section however, and looks like it would take little to make it navigable once it is connected up to the rest of the restored canal. The water is, I believe, supplied by springs in the vicinity. The path seen on the right bank, originally the canal's towpath is now part of the Outer Aylesbury Ring LDP. The section on the opposite side of the bridge is also in water, though of a more stagnant nature (see Image]).

I'm not sure how one gets to the bench seen perched above the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union canal on the opposite bank, as there seems to be no footpath to it - perhaps it is a private bench belonging to a house in Drayton Beauchamp, or maybe there is an unmarked path leading to it.

The Wendover Arm is a part of the Grand Union Canal which was primarily built to supply water for the locks at Marsworth and Cowroast. Construction started in 1793.