Pete's Walks- Bledlow Ridge and Lacey Green (page 2 of 5)
There was another good view over the valley ahead of me to Lacey Green as I steadily followed the path downhill from Lodge Hill. I kept straight on, or left, at a couple of path junctions and followed a right-hand hedge to reach Lee Road. Across the road I followed a drive to a large house that was surrounded by scaffolding and was clearly undergoing a major refurbishment. The path continued between young hedgerows, where I saw a flock of Yellowhammers. It then passed part of a golf course to reach a railway line. Across this I crossed an irregularly shaped pasture and crossed over a second railway line (it ran through a cutting then entered a tunnel somewhere below me).
The path descending from Lodge Hill, looking ahead across the valley to Lacey Green
The path continuing at the foot of Lodge Hill
The path approaching Lee Road
The path going north from Lee Road
The path continuing past the golf course
The pasture between the two railway lines
The second railway, in the cutting
I next turned right, following a hedge next to the railway cutting - I had now left the Ridgeway but had rejoined the Chiltern Way. After a few hundred yards the path turned left across a narrow part of the field, and continued across a similar field - both showing the first green shoots of next Summer's crop. I crossed the A4010 road (from Prince's Risborough to West Wycombe) and continued alongside another hedgerow, now with Loosley Row and Lacey Green on the hillside a short distance ahead of me. I crossed a drive and went through a small area of scrub, turning left by a lane to come back to the drive. I turned right and followed the drive to Collin's Farm. Just past the farm a path continued uphill to reach a street in the village of Loosley Row.
The path going southeast beside the second railway line
The path from the railway line crossing the field to the A4010, with Loosley Row and Lacey Green in the background
The footpath across the A4010
The drive to Collin's Farm
The drive past Collin's Farm
I turned right, then went left at a junction, following the residential street uphill to the adjoining village of Lacey Green. At the top of the hill I went diagonally across a crossroads and took a footpath that followed a hedge through a small pasture next to Lacey Green Windmill (I saw more Fieldfares here with a few Redwings too). I crossed a stile into the next field, which I can best describe as a pasture cum paddock, as it contained four bullocks and a horse.
The road from Loosley Row to Lacey Green
The pasture next to the windmill
Lacey Green windmill
Lacey Green windmill is the oldest surviving smock-mill in the country. It was originally built near Chesham in 1650, but was moved to its present site in 1821 on the orders of the Duke of Buckingham, presumably due to a lack of wind in the Chess valley. It consists of a three-storey octagonal tower or ‘smock’, with an iron cap. Much of the massive internal machinery has survived, including rare ‘compass arm’ timber gearing. The mill was used for the last time in 1915. After a short spell as a holiday cottage, it was dilapidated by the 1930’s. It was used as a Home Guard look-out point during WW II, and later used as a farm store. It was fully restored by the Chiltern Society in the early 1970’s.
The pasture cum paddock near the windmill