Forget Surrey and meet it’s eccentric cousin, Buckinghamshire

There’s more to the Home Counties than Guildford


There has been a great injustice. For too long people have believed that Surrey is the epitome of the Home Counties. People think all the posh kids on campus are from Surrey and I will not stand for it anymore.

In amongst this Surrey shaped charade, we are forgetting the other, equally as prevalent and privileged, Home Counties. Take mine – Buckinghamshire – for example, we’re very misunderstood.

I run into just as many Gilet wearing people from Chalfont as I do Gilet wearing students from Surrey. In fact, the “posh populous” of campus seems largely to be filled with Bucks/Herts babies and to be honest like all middle class uni populaces, we’re pretty much the same.

If you don’t believe me then join me on my ode to Bucks: also known as all the things that make us weird, wonderful and definitely better than Surrey.

The main differences are that instead of 4×4 cars we have restored classic cars. Lots of them. We have shows for them in Old Amersam, often…it’s all quite sad really.

Instead of blonde brunching mothers we have antipasti eating green welly wino mums. They camp, they walk through the Bucks hills and they frequent the vino regularly (love you mummy.)

Instead of retriever dogs we prefer the small and yappy kind – entirely because we can dress them up to match our outfits. Puppy parties are held on the regular and making fun of them is high treason. The Bucks economy is run solely by puppy pamper parlours and dog friendly bakeries- facts.

Instead of quaint family easter egg hunts around your huge gardens we bring in baby lambs and chicks to ours from one of the many…many…many farms in Bucks.

I could go on a long elaborate tangent here about range rovers and the similarities between Surrey and Bucks but I’ll get to the point. Buckinghamshire is just Surrey’s slightly eccentric cousin as far as uni is concerned.

Open your eyes people, Bucks babies are everywhere! Now I’m sorry if I’m making some of you Surrey-ites feel territorial, I am not here to claim your birthright, just to draw out the similarities.

As a Bucks resident, I assure you we’re just as weird (see horse obsessions) just as ‘privileged’ (see 18-year-old mini drivers) and just as disappointed with our nightlife (see Winkers).

We have the same irrelevant towns trying to claim they belong to the county, the same pointlessly obscure boutique clad high streets, the same political views and the same overpriced houses.

The point is, lets stop this Surrey segregation, lets not hate, lets integrate (I’m sorry) and come together as the Home Counties proud lot we all know we are.

So consider this your call to arms: grab those green wellies, mount your horses and lets raise our Laura Ashley glasses to the Home Counties, HURRAH.