Sharpenhoe Clappers .......

...... sounds like a worrying ailment, possibly of an embarrassing kind.

In fact it is a beech hanger, atop an outlier of the chalk downs overlooking the flatlands of central Bedfordshire, managed by the National Trust. I pass it every time I travel to and from Stevenage. When I took this shot a woodpecker was drumming, a skylark had ascended and was singing, and a chiff chaff was - well, singing "chiff chaff". All was right with the world.

Other alternatives had been the Pegsdon Hills - that would have meant too long a walk, I wanted to get home. And signs announcing "Hertfordshire, county of opportunity". I have never quite understood what that means !