Pete's Walks- Chenies and Chesham (page 1 of 3)
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.
I did this walk of about 6.5 miles on Saturday, 2nd September 2017. It was 1pm as I started walking from the old pump on the green in the centre of Chenies, and headed down the gravel drive towards Chenies Manor. At the entrance to this grand house a footpath went right, between two tall brick walls, the village church being behind the wall on my right. The path then ran between hedges for a short distance, then dropped downhill through a wood (on entering the wood I went straight on at a junction where other paths went left and half-left).
The drive to Chenies Manor
Chenies church
The start of the path between Chenies Manor and Chenies church
The path continuing downhill through a wood
On reaching a road, I crossed over and went down the lane opposite, through Chenies Bottom. I followed the lane as it turned right and then left, before I took a footpath that started on the left at Mill Farm. This path, which was heading along the Chess Valley towards Latimer, was soon running between wire fences, with an overgrown water meadow on my left - there was also a lot of Orange Balsam growing here, which is a plant I've only seen a few times. Further on the path continued for a while between hedges then, after a gate by a path junction, I continued between a wire fence and a hedge on my right. Somewhere in this hedge I saw the brick-built tomb of William Liberty an 18th century brickmaker who was related to the founder of the Liberty store in London.
The start of the lane at Chenies Bottom
Looking right from the lane at Chenies Bottom, along the Chess Valley (I walked in the opposite direction, the path starting at Mill Farm just behind me)
Near the start of the path along the Chess Valley from Chenies Bottom to Latimer
Some gorgeous Orange Balsam - there was lots of this growing beside the path near Chenies Bottom
The path along the Chess Valley from Chenies Bottom to Latimer
The path along the Chess Valley from Chenies Bottom to Latimer
The grave of William Liberty
Beyond another gate I entered a very large and irregularly-shaped pasture - at this point some bushes over to my left concealed the scant remains of the old church of Flaunden that was abandoned due to frequent flooding. The path stayed close to the hedgerow on my right, then when this turned right it continued straight on to reach a gate and a road, where I turned right to enter the village of Latimer. I turned left by the village green which, as well as another old pump (like the one at Chenies) and a Boer War memorial, had the grave of a heart of a horse belonging to a general who had fought against the British in the Boer War. I then took a path on the right (starting not far from the end of the green) which ran down an alley between garden fences or hedges, then crossed a green field (I think it's part of a garden) to return to the same lane I'd just left. I went about a hundred yards left, then took a path by a gate on the right. After going down a track for a few yards, I turned right through another gate. This path ran between a fence on my left and a hedge, and I soon came to the former Latimer House on my right (a Victorian mansion built on the site of an Elizabethan house destroyed by fire, it has now been renamed Latimer Place and is being run as a hotel and conference centre).
The path along the Chess Valley from Chenies Bottom to Latimer
Approaching Latimer
The green at Latimer
The short path at Latimer.
The path along the Chess Valley, from Latimer to Blackwell
The former Latimer House - it has been renamed Latimer Place and is now a hotel and conference centre