Cheese Wharf Revisited: March School Trip

March 25, 2019 Alice Pyper

For our March excursion we returned to one of our favourite places, Cheese Wharf near Lechlade! Last time we went it was super sunny and hot, and the fields were filled with buttercups. This time the skies were grey, but our spirits were bright anyway! Chester, Fergus, Nelly and Thor joined us for the afternoon, and we made sure to visit the magical footbridge which all the dogs love to run up and down.

They were all very excited to follow the river which meanders through the fields. Chester dipped in and out of the river at every opportunity, while Thor followed closely behind him but stayed well out of the water! Nelly rolled in about 6 different fox poops and seemed very pleased about it. Fergus bounded around happily playing with everyone! Nelly, Chester and Fergus had a little tiff about who would get a particularly nice stick.

We had a few attempts to get a group photo at the wharf, as Thor was very wriggly and wanted to play rather than sit and pose for a picture! We did however get a nice shot of all their behinds as they all investigated a stretch of river bank!

Thames Path, Goring: January School Trip!

January 25, 2019 Alice Pyper

Yesterday Micah, Nelly, and Thor joined us on our first doggy outing of the year; exploring the Thames path! Starting out at Goring, the humans slipped and skidded along the very muddy river path, while the dogs trotted along much more gracefully. There are apparently many good things to smell along the river bank. Nelly and Thor even had the occasional dip in the river, despite the very cold weather!

Although it was a grey day for photographs, none of us minded at all! The bridges and nature reserves along the way were heaps of fun to play around in, and we saw some herons perched on posts in the water, and a tree full of cormorants all drying off their wings. We were even lucky enough to get a little bit of blue sky on the way back home!

Our school photos seem to be declining in quality rather rapidly… Here we can even see the moment Alice has given up trying to arrange the puppers nicely! Nelly is always too keen to come and lick your face to stay still for very long!!

Happy Christmas Common (School Trip #10)

December 20, 2018 Alice Pyper

A merry time was had by all at Christmas Common this week on the December school trip! Barley, Fergus, Bob, Jambo, Jack, and Thor had great fun exploring a wooded hillside, searching for elves and festive treats. Starting from the Watlington Hill National Trust Car Park, we followed the well marked paths through ash and beech trees and found some beautiful open grassland and views of the Oxfordshire Plain.

The origin of the Chiltern Hamlet’s name is a little uncertain, it might be linked to a Christmas Day truce during the English Civil War, local holly tree coppices or the local Christmas family. No time for the dogs to ponder this though, there were too many rabbit holes to sniff and trees to run around.

Bob and Jambo are serial rabbit hole divers, so were kept on the lead with Thor staying keeping them company, watching Barley and Fergus chasing each other up and down the slopes. We had a very lovely walk, but also the least successful group photo to date… Convincing six dogs to sit still with so many exciting things to smell and wee on is very tricky!!

Stowe (School Trip #8)

October 24, 2018 Alice Pyper

October’s dog outing sent us Northwards to Stowe. Fergus, Gus, Ted and Thor came along to sniff one of the most remarkable legacies of Georgian England.

The huge National Trust owned gardens and surrounding parkland are a maze of temples, monuments and pavilions. Our dog pack loved discovering what really old buildings smell like and bounding down the open valleys! We were gifted with blue skies and beautiful Autumnal light, so lots of fun was had by everyone.

These four all get along so nicely now it’s the sweetest thing! Although Ted did find a particularly great stick, and barked a lot to let Fergus know who’s it was. On the drive back Gus and Thor, very adorably, had a snooze cuddled up together like brothers.

The dogs very much enjoyed the Circle of the Dancing Faun, a set of funny statues of shepherds doing a country dance. Alice also evidently also very much enjoyed the figures!

Cobstone Windmill (School Trip #7!)

September 23, 2018 Alice Pyper

Chester, Fergus, Ted and Thor all joined us for this months outing to Cobstone Windmill in Buckinghamshire. Although it was very windy, we were lucky enough to have some blue sky and sun for the afternoon, and the dogs had a great time playing together in the woods and fields.

The windmill was famously featured in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the cute little village of Turville at the bottom of the hill was the setting for The Vicar of Dibley. The walk up the steep hill to the windmill is well worth it for the beautiful view across the village! The humans got fits of the giggles as they kept rolling over beech tree nuts halfway up and (consequently falling over a lot), but the dogs were nimble as ever!

We tried to get the pack to sing along with us about flying cars, but they weren’t having any of it; there were interesting things to sniff and hills to bound up and down! However we did just about manage to get a photo of them all in front of the Windmill!

Aston Rowant (School Trip #6)

August 25, 2018 Alice Pyper

For August's afternoon outing we made our way to Aston Rowant Nature Reserve with the same crew as last month (Ted Gus and Thor), plus Lola! The reserve is located just on the edge of the Chilterns, and has really beautiful grasslands and views, despite it's proximity to the M40. We had fun spotting all the red kites, along with chalk hill blue butterflies and green woodpeckers, as well as walking the sculpture trail which had some hilariously bizarre wind-up listening posts.

Obviously the dogs didn't care about the views, wildlife or M40, they were simply happy to run around a new place! They had lots of fun together, Ted and Lola bounding around like little lions and Gus and Thor playing nicely. There was also a tremendous number of blackberries of which Lola, being no stranger to wild foraging, snaffled an impressive number!

Puppy Therapy with St. Peter's College

June 3, 2018 Alice Pyper

As part of our quest to share the goodness of dogs, last week we took four of our pack to visit some of the undergraduate students at St Peter's College for some puppy therapy, with the welfare team and Alice's sister Sarah, who works at the college. A shocking 78% of students report suffering from poor mental health during their studies. Universities are not all fun and drinking: they are environments in which mental illness often goes undetected.

In our opinion, cuddling lots of cute dogs is just what is needed during the stressful exam periods! We chose some of our most adorable and people loving dogs, Fergus, Fudge, Jax, Wilbur and Thor, who all seemed overjoyed to explore the inside of the college and to be petted so much! Jax and Thor sat on everyone's laps, Wilbur bounded around happily, and Fergus' hair was the envy of everyone. Fudge excelled herself, winning over all the students and taking them for walks around the quad in search of food.

It's well known that stroking an animal helps reduce anxiety, but simply getting the students outside and focusing on something different for a couple of hours seemed to do a lot to improve their moods! Many of them also said it helped to remind them of home and their very much missed family dogs. More Woof + Whistle outreach coming soon!

Cheese Wharf

May 24, 2018 Alice Pyper

What a wonderfully fantastic day we had this week at Cheese Wharf! The sun was shining, the flowers were in bloom and Fergus, Jax, Thor and Wilbur were absolutely raring to go. We found the location for this month's excursion on a wild swim website and it looked like the perfect place for our doggies to have a play in the river. Located in Lechlade, in the nineteenth century it was a bustling wharf where cheeses were loaded onto barges and taken down the Thames to London. Today there is a tiny spot for human swimmers, and the other side of the bank is nice walk along the meandering river, past the old concrete wharf and to another river lock. Alice enjoyed frolicking in the buttercup filled meadow with her friends, and the dogs had an inordinate amount of fun running up and down a small bridge.

With only a small amount of coaxing (no treats needed!) we managed to arrange the dogs for the class photo, although Wilbur was chewing very intently on a bit of grass that he deemed more important than smiling for the camera. There were lots of spots along the river that Fergus and Wilbur went swimming in, although Thor and Jax weren't feeling it and just stopped for a drink. The whole walk was beautiful and we will definitely be going back to take a swim ourselves!

Birthday Pawty

May 21, 2018 Alice Pyper

We had an absolutely lovely Sunday afternoon celebrating Woof + Whistle's (and Fudge's) 2nd Birthday! We couldn't have asked for more gorgeous weather or more eager dog guests. After a stroll around the dandelion filled fields, and quick play in the river and only minimal chasing of deer, we all shared some dog-friendly and human-friendly cake.

A huge thank you to everyone, and everydog, who came along to pawty with us!

Windrushed in Swinbrook

April 22, 2018 Alice Pyper

For this month's dog adventure we travelled out to Swinbrook, a little village to the West of Oxford with some beautiful houses, a huge valley, and the river Windrush. This time we had Jax, Pepe, Ted and Wilbur along for the ride! Although this week we had been promised sunshine, we were blessed with wind and grey clouds! We both marvelled at how accurately the river was named, as the wind was rushing through the valley past us... However upon further investigation it’s actually because the river winds through rushes for most of its course.

After snooping around some of the gorgeous stone houses, complete with tennis courts, and swimming pools, we set off for our circular walk through the valley and along the river. As you can see, the pooches and Alice were all jumping to get going! The doggos really loved having such a big open space where they could run around in circles together, as well as the river to have a paddle in! We managed to get them to stop playing just long enough to pose for a photo in front of St Oswald's Church. Jax used the blustery weather to achieve the perfect windswept look for his close up.

Swinbrook was another great excursion with the Woof + Whistle pack! Keep an eye on your inbox for Tail Mail (our monthly newsletter), with details of May's adventure date and location, or to subscribe just enter your email at the bottom of the page.

Wags from Woof + Whistle!