The Friends of The Ridgeway

02/11/2026

These Vale Path Volunteers were busy in this morning's sunshine making another section of dead-hedge at Wayland's Smithy on the Ridgeway National Trail.
These photos show them starting with logs at the base of the empty transverse section prepared with hazel spars, then stuffing branches and twigs from the old unmanaged hedgerow into the gaps.
A dead-hedge like this provides habitats for small mammals, insects and birds. The newly-planted mixed native hedgerow in front of the dead-hedge has survived this year's drought, with most of the saplings still with green leaves as they grow out of the guards among thistles.
The lower hedgerow enables more people on the Ridgeway to see the stones of Wayland's Smithy long barrow within the copse of beech trees.
Thank you Dave Cavanagh for these photos of your colleagues: Trevor, Andy, John and Andy.
This work is part of the Historic Ridgeway Project, which is funded by North Wessex Downs National Landscape and Historic England. There will be more opportunities to continue making the dead-hedge later this month.



North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust
Oxfordshire Ramblers
Vale of White Horse Ramblers

31/10/2026

Artists, writers and photographers are invited to interpret the new theme of ‘Living Working Ridgeway’ in the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize 2027.
For thousands of years people have shaped the landscapes of the Ridgeway along the chalk escarpments between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire.
They made hill-forts during the Iron Age, carved chalk figures such as Whiteleaf Cross near Princes Risborough and the White Horse at Uffington, farmed the downland slopes and vales and planted trees to make furniture.
The theme ‘Living Working Ridgeway’ can include farmers, racehorse trainers, artisans and crafts-people living and working here today, as well as anything that lives in the natural environment of the Ridgeway landscape.
There are four categories in the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize: Wall Art includes painting, drawing, etching, textile pictures, wall hangings, and mosaics in any medium. Photography in black and white, and colour. Sculpture in ceramic, wire, wood and glass. Written work in poetry and prose.
All entries will be exhibited on 24 and 25 April 2027 in the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall in Uffington, Oxfordshire. The Swire Ridgeway Arts Prizes will be awarded on Sunday 25 April.
The competition is open to all, including professional and amateur artists. Art work submitted must be produced in the 24 months before the closing date of Monday 22 March 2027.
Entry form and competition details are on this webpage: https://ridgewayfriends.org.uk/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize-2027/
The Ridgeway National Trail is much more than an 87-mile walking trail between Overton Hill at Avebury World Heritage Site and Ivinghoe Beacon in the Chilterns. It is an historic monument, an artistic inspiration, and a special natural environment passing through the North Wessex Downs and Chilterns National Landscapes.
The Friends of the Ridgeway is a charity seeking to engage people living near to and using the Ridgeway National Trail in activities that spread knowledge and appreciation of its wealth of historic, artistic and environmental features.
The first Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize exhibition was held by the Friends of the Ridgeway in 2017. Previous exhibits are online at the Friends of the Ridgeway website: https://ridgewayfriends.org.uk/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize/



North Wessex Downs National Landscape
Chilterns National Landscape
Ridgeway National Trail
North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust
Buckinghamshire Art Society
The Marlborough Downs: A Space for Nature
Open Studios West Berkshire & North Hampshire
Oxfordshire Artweeks

29/10/2026

Poems, paintings and photographs of pubs and cafes along the Ridgeway National Trail could feature among the entries for the Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize 2027.
The theme 'Living Working Ridgeway’ encompasses the lovely businesses offering great hospitality, including three featured here: the Perch & Pike in South Stoke, Pierreponts in Goring and The Maker Space in Nuffield.
The Swire Ridgeway Arts Prize has four categories: Wall Art includes painting, drawing, etching, textile pictures, wall hangings, and mosaics in any medium. Photography in black and white, and colour. Sculpture in ceramic, wire, wood and glass. Written work in poetry and prose.
All entries will be exhibited on 24 and 25 April 2027 in the Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall in Uffington, Oxfordshire. The Swire Ridgeway Arts Prizes will be awarded on Sunday 25 April.
The competition is open to all, including professional and amateur artists. Art work submitted must be produced in the 24 months before the closing date of Monday 22 March 2027.

Entry form and competition details are on this webpage: https://ridgewayfriends.org.uk/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize/swire-ridgeway-arts-prize-2027/



North Wessex Downs National Landscape
Chilterns National Landscape
Buckinghamshire Art Society
Open Studios West Berkshire & North Hampshire
Oxfordshire Ramblers

28/10/2026

This great team from Grundon, the waste management company near Wallingford, really got stuck in to their task on Grim's Ditch. Thank you Sam, Sue, Jan, Jim and Jon for your hard work helping to create a 'mosaic habitat' of shrubs like elder and spindle, while removing overgrown brambles and tree branches. This vegetation is obscuring the Scheduled Monument, a historic structure between Nuffield and Mongewell in the Chilterns that carries the Ridgeway National Trail. The work was arranged in collaboration with the landowner who creates habitats for wildlife on their farm.



Ridgeway National Trail
Historic England

26/10/2026

Have you seen the exquisite Alfred Jewel in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford? Discover Alfred the Great was a man of learning who encouraged people to read and write in English. Today, 26th October, is the anniversary of his death in 899.
Throughout his life King Alfred would have travelled through the landscape of the Ridgeway. He was born and grew up on a royal estate near Wantage, fought the Danes in the Battle of Ashdown, and used routes along the high ground through his large Kingdom of Wessex.
https://www.ashmolean.org/alfred-jewel



Ashmolean Museum
Ridgeway National Trail

The Alfred Jewel is a masterpiece of goldsmith's work formed around a tear-shaped slice of rock crystal. Its inscription: AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN – 'Alfred ordered me to be made’ – connects the jewel with King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) making it among the most significant of royal reli...

23/10/2026

“We can’t go back to where we were, but we can shape where we want to be in the future,” said Gill Haggarty, the chair of the North Wessex Downs’ Council of Partners at the Forum last week.
It was a great workshop identifying ways of adapting to the effects of climate change on the people, villages, towns and countryside of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape, including the Ridgeway National Trail.

21/10/2026

Watch Anna Dillon the Artist painting the beautiful Living Landscape Mural that is now displayed in the Vale & Downland Museum in Wantage 😍 This is an amazing work of art showing Anna's deep love and understanding of the landscape of the Berkshire Downs, and her creative skills combining geology, history, and nature into the Living Landscape.



North Wessex Downs National Landscape
North Wessex Downs Landscape Trust
Ridgeway National Trail