Pete's Walks- Coombe Hill and the Hampdens (page 3 of 5)
I turned left along the drive to Hampden House, then took a footpath going right, through the churchyard of Great Hampden church. The path continued along a fence line through a huge meadow or pasture, passing through a small enclosed area of tress at one point. After crossing a farm drive it carried on along a headland between arable fields, then passed another area of trees to arrive at a private drive in another part of Great Hampden (I think - I usually refer to this as Hampden Common but I now think that is just an area of woodland here). At the end of the drive I crossed a road and took the lane opposite, almost immediately turning off it right to follow the edge of a cricket pitch to reach Hampden Coppice. I decided to stop for a 10-minute break on a bench here - this is not something I normally do, but I still felt a little weak after the virus I'd had some time ago, and thought a rest and a couple of Alpen bars would do me good. The path then continued through Hampden Coppice to emerge by a crossroads.
The path from Great Hampden church to Hampden Common
The path from Great Hampden church to Hampden Common
The cricket pitch at Hampden Common, approaching Hampden Coppice
I then took a path starting at the diagonally opposite corner of the crossroads. Actually this is a bridleway, but a wire fence separates it into a route for horses and one for walkers (to the right). On the far side of Monkton Wood I turned right, this path running northwest for about three-quarters of a mile, just inside the edge of the wood (here mainly beech, with a lot of Holly further on). The path ended at a short drive by a cottage, which took me to Lily Bottom Lane. I turned right and followed the lane to Parslow's Hillock - I forgot to see if the Pink and Lily pub was in business, it looked closed last time I was here.
The Pink and Lily pub is associated with the poet Rupert Brooke, who discovered it on one of his walks in the Chilterns and became quite a regular visitor in the years immediately before World War I. His most famous poem is possibly The Soldier with its opening lines:
“If I should die, think only this of me:
that there’s some corner of a foreign field
that is for ever England.”
Brooke died of blood poisoning in 1915 while on the way to Gallipoli.
Bridleway going southwest through Monkton Wood (the bridleway is left of the fence, with a separate path for walkers on the right)
The path going northwest along the edge of Monkton Wood
The path going northwest along the edge of Monkton Wood
The path going northwest along the edge of Monkton Wood
Lily Bottom lane
I went a short distance right along the road, then turned left along a drive. After a few yards I went through a gate on the right and continued north along a bridleway running through Hillock Wood, with the Chiltern escarpment sloping down to my left. After about half a mile, the bridleway turned right and ran alongside a field to reach a minor road. Here I went left, with Kingfield Wood on my right.
Near the start of the bridleway north from Parslow's Hillock
The bridleway north from Parslow's Hillock
The bridleway north from Parslow's Hillock
The bridleway north from Parslow's Hillock, approaching the road
Next, I turned right along a path through the garden of a bungalow, the path continuing close to another edge of Kingfield Wood. At a path crossroads I turned left, along a bridleway with Sergeant's Wood now on my right. On reaching a corner of the wood I turned right (I always remember this section between Parslow's Hillock and Whiteleaf Hill as consisting of alternate right and left turns), now just inside another edge of the same wood. After a short distance I came to another path crossroads, where I turned left.
The path along the edge of Kingfield Wood
The bridleway along the south-western side of Sergeant's Wood
The bridleway along the north-western side of Sergeant's Wood