A new book featuring the work of more than 50 individuals from the Vale of White Horse community, is now on sale, and is the perfect present to treat yourself or someone else. The idea behind the book “52 things to do… far from the madding beaches”, was to come up with, and promote, a vast array of things that people could do, visit, look at or explore in the Vale of White Horse which would encourage them to come back to the area time and time again or explore their local community a bit more. By coming up with 52 suggestions the book is designed to give readers one idea for each week of the year. 
In total 50 individuals submitted more than 500 pieces of work for possible inclusion in the book, including stunning photography capturing the unique atmosphere of Wayland Smithy, descriptive writing about the history of the ancient towns of Abingdon, Faringdon and Wantage, drawings of the Ridgeway, as well as of many of the hidden gems in the Vale’s villages. These were then whittled down to the select few that made the print run to represent the 52 individual things. All pieces of work in the book were donated free of charge by members of the public, keen to play their part in helping promote the Vale of White Horse to a much wider audience. The book was pulled together over the last 18 months by the “52 Team”, a dedicated group looking to highlight what the Vale has to offer as a tourist destination. Represented on the 52 Team were: Vale of White Horse District Council, Wantage Rejuvenated, Wantage Chamber of Commerce, the Choose Abingdon Partnership and Focus on Faringdon. The book costs £9.99 each and is available to buy from the following locations –
- Abingdon – Mostly Books, Tourist Information and Abingdon Museum,
- Faringdon – Town Council offices and Portwell Angel,
- Wantage – Blackwells, Vale and Downland Museum and Opal.
- Online - Amazon.co.uk,
- Email – economicdevelopment@southandvale.gov.uk