'Save the AONB' was the message from campaigners as members of the HS2 Select Committee visited the county yesterday.

Committee members were met with a barrage of placards, flags and even a school blackboard when they visited Kings Ash near Great Missenden, as they saw for themselves the countryside which will be blighted by building work on the line.

MPs on the committee stopped off at various points around Bucks that would be affected and spoke to residents to hear their concerns about how it would impact on their lives.

One of the residents they spoke to was Reina Free, who has lived in Kings Ash for 30 years in a house which overlooks the valley HS2 is scheduled to pass through.

She raised concerns at noise levels and the impact construction traffic will have on the roads, when she spoke to committee member Sir Peter Bottomley.

Mrs Free said: "I said to him the noise will be so strong and so big, people who live around here won't be able to sit outside. It will be a very destructive procedure.

"We're right on top of a hill and there's an echo effect.

"I'm asthmatic - suppose I need to go to the hospital, how will I be able to get to the hospital when they are working?"

She added: "It's very important people have places where they can emotionally catch their breath, get a bit of solitude, in a place of refuge."

The Select Committee will return to Bucks on June 22, when they will visit areas around Amersham, Great Missenden and the Chalfonts.