Pete's Walks - Four Hills walk (page 4 of 6)
The path/bridleway took me to a crossroads, which I crossed to the diagonally opposite corner. I took the left-most of two paths by a gate, keeping close to the western edge of Hampden Coppice. I was delighted to see a Roe deer here (the feeling obviously wasn't reciprocated as it ran off as soon as it saw me!) - that's two I've seen this year, having only ever seen them in the the Chilterns two or three times before. I stopped for lunch on a bench by the cricket pitch at Hampden Common (as I usually do on this route), then crossed the main road here (with a pub to my right) and continued down a private drive. A path soon went right, between two properties, continuing beside a small wood on my left and then crossing a large field that was now stubble. After crossing a surfaced farm track and passing through a belt of trees, I forked half-right across a huge meadow (if I'd gone straight on I'd have reached Great Hampden church). The meadow was dotted with trees, so was obviously part of the park around the nearby Hampden House.
The path through Hampden Coppice to Hampden Common
The cricket pitch at Hampden Common (from the seat where I stopped for lunch)
The path from Hampden Common to Great Hampden church
The path from Hampden Common to Great Hampden church
The path forking right from the path to Great Hampden church
I joined the drive to the church and Hampden House by a cottage, turning right to immediately go through a button-operated gate and then took a footpath on the left. This crossed another huge meadow, soon with a view of Hampden House on my left. The meadow started to slowly descend, the slope increasing as I crossed a stile and made my way through freshly mown hay in another meadow that took me to the floor of the broad valley of Hampden Bottom. After crossing a lane, a path crossed the valley bottom beside a right-hand hedge-row. Over the road that runs through the valley, a path then followed a left-hand hedgerow up the opposites slope towards Warren Wood. The long-grass and flowers beside this hedgerow were a haven for wildlife (I remember photographing my first Yellow-shell moth here), as I saw Silver-Y moths, Meadow Brown and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and a dragonfly (probably a Southern Hawker).
The path across the large meadow east of Hampden House
Hampden House
The path continuing to the valley of Hampden Bottom - the route continues to the right of the hedgerow going up the opposite slope towards Warren Wood
The path crossing Hampden Bottom. Across the minor road here it switches to the other side of the hedgerow
The path following the hedgerow up to Warren Wood
The path then continued through Warren Wood. On the far side I continued across another field of stubble, the path ending along the driveway of a house in Little Hampden. The Rising Sun pub was just a few yards to my left (Update 22/10/18: sadly this has now closed).
The path through Warren Wood
The path through Warren Wood
The path from Warren Wood to Little Hampden