Pete's Walks- Hambleden, Stonor, Fawley (page 3 of 7)
If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.
Across the lane I started down a footpath that would take me through the deer park around Stonor House - this is one of my favourite paths in the Chilterns, so I was quite happy to be walking it again despite already having done so twice before this year. After passing a cottage and a field on the right, the path went gently downhill through woodland (Balham's Wood was to my right, Kildridge Wood to my left). The path passed through a small area of Rhododendrons at one point, and then entered the deer park through a gate in a tall wire fence.
The start of the path to Stonor deer park
The path to Stonor Deer Park
The path to Stonor Deer Park
The path to Stonor Deer Park
The path continued through the deer park, through a mixture of trees and grass - I spotted two large Fallow bucks here. Soon I could see the grand Stonor House down to my right, along with its equally historic private chapel (It was only after this walk that I discovered, via the internet, that the stone circle by the chapel is genuinely ancient, I had always imagined it was a fake for some reason! However I was partly correct because Wikipedia says the "current stone positions are the result of re-positioning during 17th-century landscaping and 20th-century reconstruction"). It was very pleasant following the path through the deer park, with a fine view towards Pishill gradually opening up ahead and to the right.
The path continuing through Stonor Deer Park
The path continuing through Stonor Deer Park
Stonor House and its chapel
The view from the Deer Park towards Pishill
The end of the path as it descends to the road through Stonor
At the end of the path I left the deer park through a gate, and turned left to follow a road through the village of Stonor. I usually take a bridleway on the left after about a quarter of a mile, but having already been that way twice already this year, I continued on all the way through the village, then took a footpath on the left immediately after a farm. The path led uphill along the edge of an empty pasture, then continued more steeply uphill through Almshill Wood. At the top of the hill the path left the wood, and continued through the farmyard of Coxlease Farm.
The road through Stonor - sadly the pub on the left has closed for business
The path from Stonor to Almshill Wood
The path going up through Almshill Wod
The path going up through Almshill Wod
The path approaching Coxlease Farm
The path passing Coxlease Farm