Bradenham

Hallmark February 2025. Report by Mike Piercy. Red Lion Cafe

One of my friends from the tennis club was extolling the virtues of the Red Lion Café and Tea Room at Bradenham so I arranged to visit and chat to Lisa who runs the place.

Most of you will know that practically all of Bradenham and its houses is owned by the National Trust. Back in 2017 the Red Lion pub fell vacant and the trust decided they would like to have a tea room in the village. Lisa Hunt has worked in the hospitality industry for years, most recently running a pub in Hurley She decided that running a tea room would give her a better quality of life and agreed to take on the lease. She converted the building so it now has a kitchen and servery area with two rooms with a dozen dining tables. The ambience is warm and snug with subdued lighting and plenty of room between the tables. There is disabled access but the limitations of the building rule out full disabled toilets.

The majority of the clientele drive to the café and there is a big car park round the back. They also get lots of walkers as there are many beautiful walks around Bradenham – and dogs are welcome. Though most visitors are of a mature age, young families and children come too.

The prime reason for visiting is the quality of the food. Lisa is very proud that all the items on the menu are home made and cooked from scratch She employs a specialist pastry chef to ensure high quality. The menu features plenty of vegetarian and vegan items and the gluten-intolerant people are also catered for. In recognition of this the Red Lion was awarded the Best Café or Tea Room in Bucks at the Food and Drinks Award last October. Her loyal regulars had entered the competition without Lisa’s  knowledge and it came as a massive surprise when she won.

The Café is very busy nowadays – even in winter and Lisa recommends that you book your table in advance – especially at weekends.

History of Bradenham.

The Village was well established at the time of the great Norman survey, for the "Manor" is recorded in the Domesday Book.

The Saxon south doorway of the present Church - the oldest church door in this county - admits the visitor into a building hallowed by 900 years of worship. The ancient timbers in the tower support two of the oldest bells in England. They bear the name of a Michael Wymbish who was making bells in Norman England and whose Company was still flourishing around 1300 when these were cast.

The first Queen Elizabeth visited Bradenham Manor in 1566 on a journey from Oxford and was entertained here in great splendour, Staying overnight at Great Hampden the Queen progressed next day to Bradenham, the only road at that time being the track from Flowers Bottom coming out at the top of Bradenham Wood. Records suggest the present Bradenham Wood road did not exist and the Queen's party went down through a gap in the woods. On the following day, with "a large party of gentlemen because of the thieves which infested these woods"; Her Majesty set out from Bradenham "passing through some of the loveliest bits of primeval forest at Walters Ash, down Downley Common, through Tinker's Wood" to High Wycombe.

The 17th century Manor House of mellowed brick is well known for it's associations with the Disraelis ~ the last years of Isaac and the youth of Benjamin, later to become Prime Minister. Isaac Disraeli lived here from 1829 until his death in 1848. Benjamin Disraeli describes the village of Bradenham under the name of 'Harslley' in his novel Endymion, which reflects his great love of the house as a boy.

Eastwards of the Church is to be found a curious feat of nature, older by far than the village itself, In a small meadow, almost surrounded by beechwoods, lie scattered stones and boulders of various shapes and sizes, like a mini Stonehenge or Avebury Circle. These stones, however, according to the experts, are not the work of some long lost civilisation, but a deposit left behind from the days of the great ice Age.

The whole village of Bradenham enjoys the distinction, together with another Buckinghamshire village, of being under the care of the National Trust.