Rachel Gill

An inspiration for my painting “We moved here in 2000. We’d just got married and my husband Bob had a new job in Wokingham, and I was working in Oxford. We wanted somewhere in between the two. We looked at the OS map and we saw Watlington, surrounded by bridleways and footpaths. One day we…

Paul McKnight

“Everyone knows everyone” I’m from Essex originally, and have lived all over the country, moving to the area 15 years ago, and then to Watlington about 5 years ago. I liked Watlington because it was a small town, rather than being completely out in the sticks. I really like the friendly atmosphere and the way…

Lucinda Shaw

“How lucky are we to have stumbled on this place!” I have been here 12 years, since May 2004. We came out of London and stumbled off the M40, house hunting. We bought a newspaper as you did in those days, and sat in what was The Pantry. We saw a lot of young families…

Liz Winton

“In Watlington I’m known as the crazy Rhino lady” I’ve lived everywhere, moving about as a child with my dad’s job in a shoe shop, and in several places after leaving home, finally settling in Caversham. Then Andrew got a job in London and we moved to Watlington in December, 2001. We knew Watlington as…

Jim Stubbs

“There is a rhythm to the year” I lived in Stokenchurch for 29 years. After about 5 years I looked at a few houses in Watlington but the intended move didn’t come about. When I retired, moving was something I wanted to do, but it took me 2 years to find a house. Eventually it…

Mysie & Alistair

“Just like an extended family” Our daughter was head of Headington School, and she said it was too far to come to Devon to look after us when I was ill, so we moved to Watlington to be near her. After eight years, she was head hunted to go to Australia, it was supposed to…

Lady Margaret Mogg

  “Watlington was always home” I lived in Headington as a child, but I spent time in Watlington visiting friends at Dame Alice [Lys Farm], and learned to ride a horse age 8 or 9 years old. I ‘came out’, as one did in those days, when I was 17, it would have been 1931.…

Watlington Folk

I love Watlington. It’s a pretty town, for sure. But it’s not bricks and mortar that makes a place – cliche alert – it’s the people. This series explores what Watlington is like through the eyes of the people that live here.