38. Whipsnade Tree Cathedral & 39. Tring Natural History Museum, Hertfordshire, 15th October 2011

Photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101390618614769540246/15thOctTreeCathedralAndTring?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPqVy_C80uOW-wE&feat=directlink

1100 Robert looked after me at Redbourn and didn’t mind me watching England play world cup rugby on the TV while he worked...ahem, moving swiftly on...I now cycle north out of Redbourn through villages and lanes that were vaguely familiar to me from my ‘Reading-to-Redbourn-Ridgeway-Ramble’ of a couple of years ago.    I’m on my way to visit a National Trust property near Whipsnade, the Tree Cathedral, before going on to the Natural History Museum collection at Tring.    The day is sunny and the leaves are just on the turn – perfect English Autumn weather.

1115 Now I am at the ‘Cathedral’, being a memorial conceived by an Edmund Keil Blyth to three of his comrades from the First World War.  Rather poignantly planting was started in the 1930’s and lasted for 9 years so must have finished near to or in WWII.  Different species of tree are laid out in the plan of a medieval cathedral complete with cloisters and corner towers.    The interlocking branches of the trees in the ‘Nave’ echo the fan roofs of Lincoln, Lichfield and Hereford I’d seen in earlier trips and I get a photo of Autumn sunshine through the trees, clinging on to the last of this year’s frondescence.   A peaceful place to wander through slowly and think, take a few photos, walk a dog and watch the seasons turn...

1315 I’ve cycled on to Tring on the other side of the Chilterns where I stop for a sandwich at a shop on the high street. Get talking to a local pensioner who was, I suspect, a cyclist in his younger days as he is interested in where I’m going and where I’ve come from.

Where I am going to is to the Natural History Museum’s satellite housing Lord Rothschild’s collection of stuffed animal specimens. Taxidermy always seemed to me to be a rather macabre and slightly suspect Victorian habit – reminiscent of elephant heads and tiger rugs so I’m not sure whether I’m going to enjoy it...

1630 Have emerged from the museum with the feeling that was different to what I had expected.  Yes, at one level it is a collection of dead stuffed animals, but what a collection!  An amazing variety from every part of the world and genus: a platoon of zebra in various poses, giant tortoise, common and rarer birds, a crab six feet across, wonderfully convoluted stick insects and curiosities like Mexican fleas which have been dressed up in clothes! - this was the craze in Mexico some years back.   OK, that last one is a bit of an oddity, but the museum goes to lengths to emphasise the serious scientific importance of the collection for species identification and it is interesting to see examples of closely related species put together so you can compare the differences.  Size is another thing, you cannot appreciate size when seen on the television or through binoculars. 

In spite of the fact that a large notice next to the rhinoceros says clearly that no genuine rhino horn is used, the museum had suffered a break-in in August when thieves stole the artificial ones.

Outside, I stop to admire the museum building itself: a rather handsome red brick Edwardian job which hasn’t changed a great deal inside or out.  So then, I make my way to the station to catch a train home. Tring is a lovely though rather busy town and I stayed in a b and b here on my Ridgeway walk.  The only problem is that the station is rather far out of the town so I’m glad I have my bike this time!