Pete's Walks- Chesham and Chenies (page 3 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.
Towards the top of the hill I went through a gap in the fence on my right (where there used to be a stile and a waymark), and then turned left to continue alongside the wood (which was now Topley's Croft)., with a huge ploughed field sloping down on my right. This is always a very pleasant path to walk, with continuous views across and along the Chess valley. After some distance the wood and the path turned right briefly, before turning left to continue in more or less the same direction as before. I think I saw three different types of dragonfly along here, but the only species I identified was Southern Hawker. Eventually I passed the former Latimer House on my left (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 from Blackwell to Latimer, after the path junction near the top of the hill
View across the Chess Valley, from the path to Latimer
The former Latimer House - it's been renamed Latimer Place and is now a hotel and conference centre
The path to Latimer
On reaching a gate and track, I followed the track left a short way to reach a lane. I then followed the lane left for about a hundred yards (passing the entrance to Latimer Place on my left), before taking a footpath on the right. This went through a small area of trees, then crossed an area of grass (I think it's actually part of a garden) before following a short alley between gardens to reach the centre of Latimer. I walked to the right of the triangular green (with its old pump, Boer War memorial and unusual monument to a horse that served in the Boer War) and turned right at a lane junction. I soon left the village, and turned left onto a footpath running along the Chess Valley and heading towards Chenies Bottom.
The path into Latimer, after the short road walk
Latimer
Near the start of the path from Latimer to Chenies Bottom
The path crossed part of a large and irregularly shaped pasture, passing a tree on my right and then a hedge corner on my left. It then continued for some way more or less parallel to the hedge or fence on my left. After a while there were some bushes to the right of the pasture, which hid whatever remains of the old Flaunden church (it was abandoned in the early 1800's because of persistent flooding). Further on I went through a gate, the path now running between the hedgerow and a fence on my right. Part way along the hedge I came across the brick-built tomb of William Liberty an 18th century brickmaker who was related to the founder of the Liberty store in London. Further on the path ran between hedge for a while, then ran close to the river and an overgrown water meadow on my right, before arriving at Mill Farm, Chenies Bottom.
The path from Latimer to Chenies Bottom (the remains of the old Flaunden church are in the bushes on the right)
The path from Latimer to Chenies Bottom
The tomb of William Liberty
The path approaching Chenies Bottom
I turned right along the lane through the hamlet, taking the right fork as it reached a junction with the minor road that runs through the valley. Across the road, I took the leftmost of two paths, which rose steeply for a short way through a wood, then continued between high brick walls to reach the entrance to Chenies Manor. I turned left here, passing the village church on my left, and followed the drive from Chenies Manor to the green in the village centre, where I stopped and sat on a bench by the old village pump to eat my packed lunch.
The steep path up through the wood to Chenies
Approaching Chenies, between the walls of Chenies church (left) and Chenies Manor
Chenies Manor
The drive from Chenies Manor
Chenies church
The old pump on the green at Chenies
This was a pleasant walk, though the parts through Chesham and Chesham Bois weren't great - but, to be fair, all long-distance paths have unavoidable sections through relatively built-up areas. The rest of the route through the Chess Valley was very attractive, which is why I've used it on many of my own walks. I'd only walked the section through Chesham Bois once before, eleven years ago, so at least that had some sort of novelty value for me - Bricky Pond was the only feature I really remembered here.