Monday 18 June 2012

A - Z Walks in Bucks - C


C is for Cadmore End


On reaching Cadmore End School, via the B482 from Lane End, turn left into the lane leading to the church. Off road parking has been made available along here.
The walk starts from the St. Mary le Moor Church,
Cadmore End 
OS map ref SU784925

Chiltern Society Footpath Map No. 11

Length of full walk: 6.75 miles
Time required:  3.5 to 4 hours
Shorter version: 4.75 miles   





St Mary Le Moor Church, Cadmore End



Refreshments:                       


The Chequers, Fingest

  
Why not try my recipe
for Chicken & Ham
Picnic Pie
(see separate post)
           
Bull and Butcher, Turville

 

Picnic Spot with beautiful views next to Churchfield Wood


















A. Go past the church and turn right onto the bridleway. Follow it downhill to Hanger Wood. Continue left on the bridleway through the wood, ignoring a footpath forking off to the right. It soon deepens into a sunken track along the edge of the wood, and you can catch glimpses through the trees of lovely views across the farmland on your left.


There are some very distinct bank and ditches on this route, which are rumoured to be the boundary of a park laid out for the bishop Henry Burghersh in 1341. Unfortunately this took away most of the common land used by villagers and caused tremendous hardship. Go to http://www.strangebritain.co.uk/folklore/fingest.html to read more about the Green Man of Fingest and the ghost of the 14th century bishop.





B. When you draw level with Hanger Farm a footpath joins the bridleway, but carry on down until the track leaves the wood.  Where the track bends left approaching the road, turn right over a stile in the hedge to enter a field.

Follow the left hand hedge to another stile and continue along a narrow fenced path, crossing another stile and eventually reaching the lane at Fingest. 

Look out for wild flowers in the hedgerows and beneath your feet.



Speedwell

Dog Rose
 

 

 
Honeysuckle

   

Elderflower
C. Turn left to the Chequers pub, passing St Bartholomew’s church on your right.

St. Bartholomew's Church, Fingest

The huge western Norman tower was built early in the 12th century and has unusual twin gables - it is believed that only one other similar construction exists in the country. It is a Grade 1 listed building, which means the church is of exceptional interest.  http://www.hambleden-valley-churches.org.uk/FINhistory.htm


Turn right along the road, passing the bus stops, then take a right hand footpath (the Chiltern Way)  next to the 30mph road sign. This path can be muddy and overgrown with nettles so take care.  Look out for Periwinkle growing beneath the wall. 


Vinca major var. oxyloba
  Greater Periwinkle


Chiltern Way




Follow the path all the way to another road, ignoring a right hand fork on entering a wood.

Cross the road and continue on the Chiltern Way to Turville, going through two kissing gates en route and turning left to the road when you meet the path leading up to Cobstone Mill.


Whitebeam
Cobstone Mill













   


Cobstone Mill is a smock mill (so called because it looks like a farm worker's smock) which was in use until 1873. It fell into disrepair until 1967 when it was cosmetically restored for the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In 1971 it was bought by actress Hayley Mills, who lived there with her husband Ray Boulting.
They carried out extensive renovations. 


  

 

 The Windmill was interesting but I was far more captivated by the pole dancing !





D. The Bull and Butcher is now on your left. Turn right up the road to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.
 
St. Mary the Virgin church,
Turville
 This was re-named St. Barnabas Church when the exterior was used for the Vicar of Dibley. Turville is a popular location for filming. In recent years it was used for outside scenes of Goodnight Mr Tom, Bride and Prejudice, Little Britain, Midsomer Murders, Lewis, Marple, Jonathon Creek and The Day of the Triffids.


Distant view of Cobstone Mill
 from the churchyard


















The Old Vicarage


E.  Pass the Old Vicarage on your left and look out for the a public footpath on your right. If you do not want to do the full walk it is possible to take a short cut back to Ibstone (G) from here.


If continuing with the longer walk, carry on for approx. 150 yards until you reach a bridleway on your left in some woodland.




Follow the bridleway uphill  to a wood. Go forward over a stile into Churchfield Wood and take the right hand path. Follow this for ½ mile until you reach a crossing track. Turn right and at the bottom of the dip you reach a three way junction. Take the middle footpath (waymarked). This turns into a broad woodland track high up on the steep hillside. 

 


You eventually come to a waymark and sign for Idlecombe Wood. Turn left here.  Look out for wildlife - we saw a herd of fallow deer several times in this area. Spectacular views now open up across the valley.

Fallow Deer
















After approx ¾ mile, where the path narrows, look out for wooden steps on your right. Just before here we spotted orchids on the grassy bank. Descend the steps and continue down to the road.

Common Spotted Orchid

 F.  Cross to the entrance of the Wormsley Estate and turn right into the wood, following a path between two boulders.   After 150 yards take the right fork and after 100 feet take the left fork. These paths are both waymarked I4.



On leaving the wood via a kissing gate, follow the right hand fence uphill. Here we saw lots of Red Kites. These birds were once extinct in England, but were first re-introduced in 1989 by Sir Paul Getty at Wormsley Park, where he lived from 1986 until his death in 2003.

Red Kite
                             
We also encountered some more "wildlife" here!
 Jolly friendly they were too! 


Pass through another kissing gate, continuing up through a field and then alongside a wood until you reach a stile on your right. Cross this to enter the wood. Climb steeply and pass St. Nicholas Church on your right.
















There has been a parish church at Ibstone for over a thousand years – at least as long as the great yew tree, 19 feet round, at its north west corner.  It is probable that there was a church here even in Saxon times (c. 800), although the present building is mainly Norman (c. 1200).  http://www.sppchurch.ik.org/p_Ibstone_Church.ikml 

  
Walk through mixed woodland until you arrive at a waymarked tree. Take the right fork leading to a stile. Enter the field and go straight ahead to another stile by the road. There are now lovely views across the Stokenchurch valley. Cross over the road leading to the church and turn right at the road signposted Fingest and Turville. The short cut comes in through the trees on the right and rejoins the main walk here.






G.  Walk past the walled boundary of Ibstone House and turn left onto the bridleway at the end of the panelled fence


Ibstone House is the former home of Dame Rebecca West. If you fancy buying it, Sun City tycoon Sol Kerzner is now selling it for a mere £15,000,000 http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-   23068668.html/svr/1711;jsessionid=B2A70553F9D04FB590A89F40D92B0858  

Go downhill  to the valley bottom and then turn right. After 100 yards turn left onto the path marked LE46.  Look out for wild flowers at the side of the track.

 
Ox-Eye Daisies


Bladder Campion










Follow the track up to a pair of field gates on the right. Immediately after there is a well hidden stile in the right hand hedge. Cross over and go half right across the field to a stile by a road.  


We came across this adorable
 little chap with his Mum and Dad

                
              .


Pale Lemon Iris growing in Pond


H.  Cross the road to the bridleway opposite. Follow it uphill through a wood and then to follow a right hand hedge. Ignore a path off to the left. Near the end of the track follow a waymarked path through some trees which passes a hidden pond.


You emerge onto the lane which leads you back to the church and your starting point.

 







12 comments:

Lorrainej said...

What a lovely walk that looks Morag, wish I had somebody that enjoyed it to go with. Although I have been so busy haven't had time. I also think I would get waylaid with all the animals, they do look lovely and also very happy. Hope you have been keeping well, and have some more walks planned for us to enjoy, if only in pictures

J B Blackett said...

Thanks for that Morag.
.
I have covered some of that lovely walk - there are bits of it on the Chiltern Way. Sometimes when we did it when was quite wet or very hot. The weather only occasionally seems ideal for (semi-)serious walking.
.
I do know all the places and pubs - except I never when inside the Bull and Butcher as it always seemed busy when I was around that way. Never saw Dawn French in Turville though , but as I told you I met Roger Lloyd Pack (Trig etc)in a house in Tufnell Park a while ago.
.
The Chequers had a nice garden out the back as I remember. I used to go to the Crown at Pishill too , and the Stonor Arms ( always strange landords/ladies) and the pub that is now a house in Northend. Etc etc.
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So I do know that area a bit , but never lived there ; it was so nice to get out into the rural parts of the Chiltern Hills then. It's all a bit tarted up now with farms gone and hundreds of horses everywhere, but the scenery is still so stunning in spite of that.
Your pictures bear witness to that.
.
I do feel you do like most animals a lot , but I would not advise you to cuddle that young sheep - not until it had been through the sheep dip - that's why she's scratching herself.
.
Regards

J B Blackett said...

I think Colin Baker ( Dr Who , BFP etc ) lives at Cadmore End. I did see him in a computer shop in Wycombe once , and was tempted to say "Who are you ?" to see if he had a witty pithy reply/retort.
.
But as you probably can guess I was too shy.
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But you could have bumped into him in Cadmore End , couldn't you ?
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I reckon there are more 'celebrities' sprinkled about than normal ordinary people nowadays - it's difficult to avoid them.

Morag said...

I’m still waiting to see that pub list of yours JBB, before they all shut down. There is a sad article in this month’s Swan Supping which lists many pubs that have recently closed. The Bernard Arms at Great Kimble – I spent many a happy evening in there. The Pink & Lily – where I last met some friends from Chinnor; that’s been closed since February. Then there is the Red Lion at Bradenham of course. How about the Live and Let Live at Booker? The Prince of Wales at Little Kingshill looks very forlorn now. I drove past the Russell Arms at Ellesborough recently and that looks like it will re-opening soon. I hear that the villagers got together and bought it as a community pub. So three cheers for all those country pubs that are still surviving.

As you say, a lot of the countryside has been “tarted up”, but you still don’t have to walk very far to get away into the woods and down ancient paths which have been untouched by modern “progress”.

And what do you mean about that sheep? She told me she was practicing for the district fete which the local Time Lord has promised to open.

Did you ever see the sheep dip in Shaun the Sheep? Whenever I picture a sheep dip now they are sipping cocktails and lounging on lilos, or playing water polo with big stripy beach balls………

I still haven’t seen any local celebs although I may have seen Jeremy Paxman in Staples once. I saw film crew units down by the university today. They are filming a new 3-part ITV drama with Martin Clunes and Julia McKenzie in High Wycombe called “The Town”. They “hope to paint a picture of contemporary Britain through the magnifying glass of an ordinary market town”. Let’s hope Ivor doesn’t get to hear about it.

J B Blackett said...

Sorry Morag ; I have not updated the pub list for a long - I will try and locate it ; it's on this computer somewhere but I can't recall its name.
.
I am sad to hear the Pink and Lily is shut at the moment. It used to be so popular at one time - the down-to-earth food was quite an attraction too. Been to quite a few leaving dos there over the years. There was a piano downstairs as the landlady told me its was supposed to be upstairs but they could not negotiate it up it the awkward old staircase.
.
Now don't get upset - but I saw Heather Couper ( the astronomer who was on the BBC ) several times in the Pink and Lily (in the little Snug on the left by the door) and did speak to her a couple of times. I think she used to live locally ( Lacey Green ?)
.

And the Bernard Arms too ? It's a while since I wenr in there ; the people running it were East Europeans at the time ( Russians ?). And there were pictures of various British prime ministers on the walls as well as Presidents Gorbachov and Yeltsin.
.
I only went in the Prince of Wale once but did go off and on to the Full Moon quite a bit - I vaguely remember 3 landlords in that time. Patrick Lunt (BBC) used to go there and did a charity auction in the largish garden out front when there was a beer festival there.
.
Never went in the Russel Arms at Butlers Cross but I saw it was being negotiated for by the locals . That's what happened to the Ship at Cadmore End , The Boot at Bledlow Ridge and The Jolly Farmer at Cookham Dean - the latter is still going strong and is well supported . The landlord ran off though and left his wife to run it on her own. She appears to be coping but I am sure it's not easy.
.
It feels like a whole way of English life is disappearing that's associate with all these old pubs. Very very sad in my opinion. It feels like it's all being done with malice and by people who disrespect or hate us.
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No never saw the sheep dip on Shaun although I have witnessed a few real ones here and there.
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I think Jeremy Paxman lives out Fawley way as he signed a petition about a development at Skirmett which he said he drove past daily.
.
Well I look forward with some apprehension about the Martin Clunes and The Town pgm. A friend of mine took part in a pgm called The Village (which was in fact Forest Hill near Oxford). Most of the villagers seemed to be upset by it by the time of broadcast he told me. Do you remember it at all ? It's almost disappeared from my memory.
.
Best Regards

J B Blackett said...

And did you know the Landlord at The Whip in Lacey Green. He was called dick and his daughter was a trained singer.
.
It was always smokey in that pub when the fire was on and the wooden floor was quite worn and splintery.
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He left there and took on the Lambert Arms at Aston Rowant on the A40 after it was relinquished by Trust House Forte.

Morag said...

Yes, very sad about the pubs, JBB. If you want to read “Cameron’s Tour of Destruction” you can find it here http://www.swansupping.org.uk/files/backissues/SS90%20Web.pdf

We forgot to add The Gate at The Lee to our list – I wonder if that is still up for sale? I did go to the Whip at Lacey Green years ago. I do remember it being very noisy and smokey but that is all.

I am starting to think that maybe I see all these celebs and just don’t recognise them. Tbh I didn’t recognise Jeremy Paxman and he had to be pointed out to me….

Sorry but I don’t remember The Village. I would definitely recognise Martin Clunes but I did go to a recording of Reggie Perrin so I can legitimately claim to have seen him in real life already.

Ooh I’ve just remembered. I met Noel Edmund’s wife once. Does that count?

J B Blackett said...

It depends . Was his first wife , second wife or third wife ?
.
You get different points depending on which one it was you met. Was it near Bristol or in Wiltshire ?

Morag said...

It was his first and it was in Wendover. Nul Points?

J B Blackett said...

What a strange name his wife had wife. Was she French or Belgian?
.
There used to be Belgian restaurant in Princes Risborough near the Market House. I wonder if Noel and his Madame ever went in there - he's got a French name too.
.
I wonder if he knows it.

Morag said...

Norwegian, I believe.

I did pass them both in a lane near Cholesbury but never saw them in Princes Risborough.

J B Blackett said...

Hello there