Watlington.. a really attractive market town This Walk.. Cookley Green and Swyncombe The Chilterns.. an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Lying at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, Watlington is an This circular walk starts at the car park in Watlington and The Chiltern Hills stretch from the River Thames in south attractive rural market town. It is first recorded as a Saxon takes you south to the villages of Cookley Green and Oxfordshire through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire settlement in the 8th century and has many historic Swyncombe. It is approximately 7 miles long over to Hitchin in Hertfordshire. The area contains some of buildings. The town is skirted by the Icknield Way (part undulating countryside and includes a few moderately the finest countryside in the UK, recognised by its of The Ridgeway National Trail) making it a popular steep climbs and several stiles along the way. You should designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty stop-off for walkers, naturalists, cyclists and horse riders. allow at least three hours to complete the walk. (AONB). From quiet valleys with medieval villages to There are several pubs in the town and a number of dramatic viewpoints on the hilltops, leafy green shops offering a range of speciality foods and goods. The walk sets out through fields and farmland following a woodlands to flower-covered meadows, well defined and broad path up into the woods of Britwell the Chiltern Hills are full of treasures 2 M1 Hill. Here it becomes a hollow way with a tunnel-like that are there to be enjoyed. cover of trees, many of which have been undermined by Hitchin Schools to Dunstable Luton NE Lewknor/M40 years of erosion leaving a mesh of roots hanging in the air A L Play Area TON alongside the path. From the top of the hill the path skirts YR P LOV E LANE round farmland before following a track into Cookley Tring PAUL Aylesbury C Church S W UXH AY Green, and on to Swyncombe. Wendover Berkhamsted Hemel A C M H CHU Hempstead A P ET R E Princes St Albans R CH L OA Risborough STR S D T STRE Swyncombe Church is early Norman with some Saxon Chesham RE EE E wc N SIDE T T K Amersham OO parts and warrants more than a passing glance as you pass M40 RBUR BR HIG H S HI Watlington T Post Office S REE B4 T River Thames 80 Library it. Leave your boots outside and take a look at the interior The High Fire Station LL Town Hall B4009 E Paddock with its apse decorated with ancient paintings uncovered Wycombe Beaconsfield W HI T LL Wallingford OR Community G TREE R and restored in the 1850's. A visit in late January or early office S OA Marlow G D IN P H D BRO February will reward you with the churchyard blooming UC M25 O O ROA to K C E Henley-on-Thames S Goring River Thames T MB with a mass of snowdrops and winter aconites. REET O Benson C T A W ANE L G IN From the church the walk follows the Ridgeway National R 0 P 8 S 4 The countryside B Trail back to Watlington and at times offers views out over For more information visit www.chilternsaonb.org around Watlington the Thames Valley towards Oxford, or perhaps less or call 01844 355500. is dotted with farms, attractively, the cooling towers of Didcot power station. hidden valleys, sleepy villages Much of the Ridgeway in this area follows the ancient and medieval to Nettlebed and Henley Icknield Way which will take you back to Hill Road at the hamlets. There foot of Watlington Hill, and so back to Watlington. is a wonderful network of rights of way offering many possibilities for walking. You can either stick to the flatter routes in the Vale or climb up into the Chiltern Hills for magnificent views of surrounding countryside - the perfect place to watch red kites soaring overhead. This Walk.. try this and our other Walks Watlington.. how to get there Watlington to This leaflet describes and illustrates one of 4 walks to Oxford Chinnor produced by Watlington Parish Council with the support Cookley Green and of the Hidden Britain Project, funded through the Rural A40 B4009 Enterprise Scheme, administered by Defra. M40 Swyncombe Lewknor B480 These walks start from the car park in Watlington 6 Chalgrove Walk 1 Watlington 5 A 2 mile walk through this historic market town Stokenchurch Watlington Walk 2 Cookley Green and Swyncombe to Benson to London 7 miles - discover hidden valleys and medieval hamlets B4009 Fingest Walk 3 Watlington Hill Ewelme 4-5 miles - a hilly walk with magnificent views A4130 B481 B480 Walk 4 Lewknor and Pyrton to Oxford 6 miles - a level walk through open countryside to to Reading Stonor Refreshments: There are a number of pubs and By car: Leave M40 at Junction 6; in Watlington take the cafes in Watlington but none on this walk so enjoy a first turning on your left into Hill Road. The free car park meal or drink on your return. is on your right. P Parking: There is free parking available in the Hill By bus: X39 hourly from Oxford. The Oxford Tube Road car park, Watlington, where you start your walk. travels between Oxford and London every 10 minutes and stops at Junction 6 (Lewknor). wc Toilets: There are public toilets in Church Street (at the bottom of High Street). Countryside Code: Be safe - plan ahead and follow any signs i Accommodation: Visit www.watlington.org Leave gates and property as you find them Protect plants & animals, and take your litter home Keep dogs under control Consider other people For further information on Watlington i visit www.watlington.org Other Watlington Walk leaflets can be obtained from the Community Office, Library and the Paper Shop. P A R I S H C O U N C I L Photography by c Robert Barber and the Chilterns Conservation Board CONSERVATION BOARD Watlington to Cookley Green and Swyncombe a 7 mile walk - discover hidden valleys and medieval hamlets 1 Leave the car park via the footpath exit at the back of 13 Cross a road, continue along the Ridgeway to reach the car park, (opposite the entrance), turning left, then the junction crossed earlier in the walk, where a sign right into Spring Lane. indicated a permissive path to the right, avoiding the road. Cross the stile, follow the path along the left edge 2 When the road turns sharply right, go left (before of a field and, after another stile, rejoin the Ridgeway. Stonor Green), to follow a path behind houses and past garages on the left. The path then crosses open ground, 14 Cross a road and continue along the Ridgeway to a with trees on the right, then between hedges. road (Hill Road). At the junction turn left downhill to arrive at the car park. 3 At an iron gate turn right through a slab stile and, with a hedge on the left, continue to a second stile. Cross Now explore Watlington the road to a field gate with a footpath sign and go through a gap at the side to join a field track. Pyrton 4 Follow the track and at a T junction turn left. The Shirburn path turns right at a hedge, shortly Pyrton 0 500m 1km turning left over a Manor B4009 stile just before a concrete road. 0 ¼mile ½mile B480 5 Walk beside a y hedge on the right to Cuxham a W cross a stile onto a ld metalled road junction. This ie Ox N is the Icknield Way, part of the fo Ickn Ridgeway National Trail and also of Swan's Watlington rds h i Way. re start W 6 Cross the Ridgeway, take the bridleway P ay Pyrton (marked W22) ahead and to the right, passing 1 Hill a farmhouse on the right. The road rises gently past a farm on the right and a 2 cottage on the left, becoming a footpath and steepening as it twists and climbs towards Britwell Hill. 7 Emerging onto a metalled road at B4009 3 Camping & Woods Farm, continue half left to Caravan Site cross another road and take the The 14 Watlington road ahead, waymarked Cookley Priory Green, (with a sign indicating 4 Hill private road) past a farm and Cobditch houses to Cookley Green. Christmas Hill Icknield Common House 8 At the junction, with the green ahead, turn right. With the cricket ground on the Britwell right, and in about 250 Salome 5 yards, past a double farm gate, turn left through a B480 white gate (marked as a bridleway) and Watlington immediately bear right through a wood. 13 Park 6 9 Follow the path straight through the wood, emerging at a kissing gate into The parkland. The path descends Howe Greenfield towards Swyncombe Church, y Copse hidden in the trees ahead. Go through an iron kissing gate at ’s Wa an Britwell w the corner of a fence (waymarked S Hill Chiltern Way). With the fence on the right cross a drive, go through trees and turn into the churchyard Howe Wood through the south gate. 12 10 Swyncombe Church is tucked away in a secluded valley a couple of Swyncombe miles from Ewelme. The church is dedicated to St. Botolph who lived Downs 7 in the 7th century; it is thought that Swyncombe was a resting place for the Saint's remains in their three caskets on their journeys to the Abbeys of Ely, Thorney and Westminster.