Pete's Walks - Coombe Hill and the Hampdens (page 3 of 4)
After a quarter of a mile or so, I turned left along a drive beside a house, then turned right onto a path running just inside the south-eastern edge of Monkton wood. This was mainly a beech wood, with a lot of holly too. There were gardens and paddocks nearby on the right, then fields. I followed this path for maybe half a mile, then turned left and followed a fence running through the wood. This section of the wood was more varied, with a few conifers.
The path along the south-western edge of Monkton Wood
The path along the south-western edge of Monkton Wood
The path going northeast through Monkton Wood
On the far side of the wood I went diagonally across a crossroads and continued on the leftmost of two paths through Hampden Coppice (again largely beech). Beyond the end of this wood I followed the edge of a cricket ground to emerge by a road junction in Hampden Common. I crossed the minor road and followed a private road a short distance before taking a footpath starting on the right. Initially there was a copse on my left, then I crossed a large arable field (where I spotted my only Red Kite of the walk). The path then followed a fence through a huge meadow to reach Great Hampden church.
The path through Hampden Coppice
Cricket ground, Hampden Common
The path from Hampden Common to Great Hampden
The path from Hampden Common to Great Hampden
Approaching Great Hampden church
Beyond the church I followed a drive a little way left, then turned right - here I joined the Chiltern Way as it passed in front of Great Hampden House. Like Chequers, this was clad in scaffolding (there is obviously a serious infection of scaffolding on the grand houses of this part of Buckinghamshire at the moment, I noticed Halton House was similarly afflicted when I drove home through Wendover). The path soon entered Lady Hampden's Wood (not named on the OS map), descending through the wood and then across a large field of cabbages or similar, to reach the road running through the valley of Hampden Bottom.
Hampden House
The path past Hampden House (right) to Lady Hampden's Wood (not named on the OS map)
The path through Lady Hampden's Wood
The path continuing from Lady Hampden's Wood down to Hampden Bottom
Across the road a path continued on through a thin belt of trees called Coach Hedgerow (like Lady Hampden's Wood, I only know the name from the Chiltern Way guide book). The path led uphill gently, then forked right from the tree belt across a meadow. On the far side I stopped for lunch on a seat carved from a tree trunk. I then continued, passing through a narrow bit of wood, then turning right along the edge of another arable field to enter Warren's Wood. At a path junction I turned left, and soon joined a track leading from the wood to the narrow lane in Little Hampden.
The path through Coach Hedgerow
The path through Coach Hedgerow
Looking back over Hampden Bottom from the carved seat (Lady Hampden's Wood is top left)
View right, over Hampden Bottom, from the track leading into Little Hampden