Tranquil Oxfordshire (or not)

Yesterday I came to opinion that there’s nowhere in Oxfordshire where you can get away from the sounds of people.

I had to escape from my house yesterday afternoon as if I had the windows open all I could hear was one (or more) of the following:

  • Kids screaming.
  • Music playing loudly.
  • Large engined motorbikes ticking over in a courtyard behind which amplified the sound.
  • Light aircraft either flying over, or, more annoyingly, doing aerobatics.
  • Motorcyclists using the road at the edge of the estate as a raceway.

So, I ran away to the woods, or, more exactly, the Oxford Harcourt Arboretum.

I walked as far away from the road as I could. I walked as far away from people as I could. However, I couldn’t escape the constant loud drone of multiple light aircraft which pierced the tranquility like a knife. indeed, it was loud enough that there was no way of hearing the wind in the trees or the crunching sound of my footfalls on the gravel path.

It’s not even as if the areas I’m talking about are close to any airfields, the nearest being at least 10 miles away, the other side of Oxford (Kidlington) so why the high concentration of aircraft around the edge of S.E. Oxford?

So, that’s how I came to the resolution that there’s no peacefulness in Oxfordshire.