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The Half Moon was built in the 16th century and is still going strong today. The owners live upstairs but work in the pub all day until 11:00 at night. They have 2 very well behaved spaniels who wander around and keep the customers company when having food or drink. They have a whole range of foods and drinks from steaks to fish and chips. The food is delicious and utterly amazing. They are all very polite and kind. They are open from:
12 noon-11pm.

P.E.Mead and sons farm shop is a family run business in an old converted barn on the outskirts of Wilstone. It has its original beams and structure. Inside the shop it sells a variety of local products such as bread, cheese, oils, milks, fruit and veg. They also sell pet food and wild bird seed. They have a café which sells tea, cakes, and hot food. All the staff are very friendly and helpful.
They are open from 9am-5pm Mon-Sat
Sun: 9:30am-4:30pm

The village shop is in the heart of the village and is run by volunteers from the community. The shop sells normal everyday essentials that the farm shop doesn’t, like toiletries, biscuits and chocolate. They do pick & mix for children (and adults!). They have a little deli full of pies, sausage rolls and more which they will heat up so you can eat in or take away. It is open: 7:30am-2pm Mon-Fri,
7:30am-1pm Saturday & 9am-12 noon Sunday.

The church is a Christian church called St Cross. Every year they do an Easter egg hunt round the grounds and whoever finds the most little eggs gets a big Easter egg. The church doesn’t have a spire or multiple bells, it just has one bell in its own little house on the roof. It was built in 1877 and is sometimes called “The small church with a big heart”. As well as Sunday services, they have a thriving Tuesday coffee morning.

From The Forge car park in Tring, turn left, then turn left again at the roundabout onto Brook St.
Carry on this road till you come to another roundabout,
Go straight on onto Tringford road and past Heygates, over the humpback bridge, carry on till you get to another roundabout.
Turn left, go round the sharp right hand bend, then the left.
Just past the farm shop look for the small sign for Wilstone, (don’t go too fast or you will miss it) then turn right into the village.

To research the village we used John Painter’s thoroughly knowledgeable book on Wilstone as well as the internet, we explored Millhoppers Nature Reserve following the Poplar walk, bird watched at Wilstone reservoir, walked the canals as part of our daily dog walks and found out more about how the locks work.

The third element to conserve the village found us on the slightly random topic of dog poo and had us designing posters to stop owners from either leaving it on the ground or bagged and in trees. Wilstone has several poo bins dotted around the village and yet we still have a problem. Did you know that dog poo can make us humans sick and even kill other animals both wild and livestock? There was a fairly recent case of a young calf dying an incredibly slow and painful death having swallowed bagged dog poo that then swelled inside their stomach. So our advice is to please bag it and bin it; don’t leave it on the ground for someone to step in or leave it in a tree; it can slowly constrict the growing tree too. As an added reminder we have produced some posters which are dotted around the village for all to see. We have also started an online petition asking others to support us in our quest to make poo bins more available - check it out here www.change.org/p/rachel-nicola-friedli-dog-owners-to-put-poo-in-bins

The last element of the award to share our experiences is what we are doing here so below we have produced two word searches with words that are important to Wilstone both now and in the past.

Did you know?

In WWI children at Wilstone school collected 250lbs of blackberries to boost their rations
There were three straw plaiting schools at the height of the hat industry in Luton. Children as young as three were involved
The Waddesdon Estate still owns a patch of land at the back of Wilstone Reservoir
The Aylesbury arm of the canal rises 94’ 8” from Aylesbury to Marsworth using 16 locks
Wilstone reservoir is own by the Canal & Rivers Trust but is managed by the Herts & Middx Wildlife Trust. It is one of the best birdwatching spots in Southern England