Pete's Walks - Kensworth, Studham Common, Whipsnade (page 1 of 2)

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.

Google map of the walk

I did this roughly 6.6 mile walk on Good Friday, 6th April 2012.  I actually set out to repeat my Kensworth and Little Gaddesden walk, but after a couple of miles I realised I'd forgotten to fill my water bottles so I did this two-hour circular walk instead, then filled my water bottles and immediately set off again on another circular walk from my home (to Flamstead and back).

Leaving my home in Kensworth about 9.40am, I set off along the road towards Whipsnade and then turned left on a footpath to cross the fields to reach Dovehouse Lane. Turning right, I followed the lane to its junction with Buckwood Lane and then took the path continuing almost opposite. Immediately coming to a path junction I kept left to follow the edge of some trees with the gardens of some houses in Holywell on my right. Further on I had a field on my left and then a small wood. At a path junction I turned left through the wood, then crossed a huge field of oil-seed rape (not yet in flower), passing another wood on my left, to reach Byslips Road (a minor road between Kensworth and Studham).

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Looking back to Kensworth, from the path from the Whipsnade Road to Dovehouse Lane

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Dovehouse Lane

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The path on the south-eastern edge of Holywell

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The path to Byslips Road, from the edge of the wood at Holywell

I went a few yards left along the road, then took a path on the other side that ran just inside the edge of Byslip Wood (where I soon saw some Wood Anemones). On the far side of the wood, I turned right and passed through a small triangle of trees to reach Roe End Lane. Continuing ahead, I followed the hedge-lined track to reach a corner of Studham Common. I followed the edge of the common uphill (admiring a Buzzard overhead as I did so), and in the next corner turned right to follow the southern edge of the common (the walk I'd originally planned goes straight on at this point).

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The path along the edge of Byslip Wood

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Roe End Lane, heading towards Studham Common

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The footpath on the eastern edge of Studham Common

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The footpath along the southern edge of the eastern section of Studham Common

Re-crossing Byslips Road I continued along the edge of the central section of Studham Common, then crossed another road to carry on through the western third of the common. Unlike the other two sections which are largely grass, this section is mainly wood or scrub, and the path soon bore slightly right to descend a small valley. Here I turned left, passing Studham school on my right and continuing along a hedgerow that followed the valley bottom. On reaching Valley Road, I turned right and followed the road uphill to a bend, where I turned left into Church Lane. I successfully looked for Wood Anemones here, having remembered I'd seen them here before.

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The footpath along the southern edge of the central section of Studham Common

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Start of the footpath through the western section of Studham Common

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The footpath from Studham Common to Valley Road

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Valley Road, Studham

Rather than follow the lane as far as the church, I turned left onto a bridleway that went through some trees and then followed the wire fence of a pasture on my left. The bridleway continued through a wood called Church Grove, keeping to its right-edge. On the far side of the wood, the bridleway turned right, following a hedgerow up and down a small valley beside a large arable field on my left.

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The path from Church Lane to Church Grove, Studham

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The path through Church Grove

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The bridleway from Studham to Whipsnade