Pete's Walks- Maidensgrove and Rotherfield Peppard (page 4 of 6)
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.
I turned left, and went a few yards to the buildings around King's Farm, bearing left to continue along the byway as it headed northwest. Initially there were paddocks and pastures over the wooden fence on my left with a mature hedgerow on my right. Further on I passed another part of Flowercroft Wood on my left, then another wood named The Paddock. When I reached a junction with another byway (named Dog Lane on the OS map) I went straight on, now on a bridleway. Fairly soon this turned left, with overgrown meadows on my right and a golf course to my left. I followed the bridleway to its end at a road, where I turned right.
The start of the bridleway from King's Farm
The bridleway from King's Farm
The bridleway from King's Farm
The bridleway from King's Farm, immediately after crossing Dog Lane
The bridleway from King's Farm
The bridleway from King's Farm, approaching the road near Grey's Green
I followed the road the short distance into Greys Green, and stopped on a bench by the cricket pitch to eat a rather late lunch (it was now about 2.10pm). I then went down the footpath that started to the right of the cricket pavilion, which soon went downhill through a wood, and then crossed a sheep pasture (lots of heavily pregnant sheep here) to reach Rocky Lane. Across this I took a path going straight on, soon joining a drive through the grounds of Grey's Court (a National Trust property). A couple of people were obviously looking at birds in the fir trees here, but didn't know what they were. One bird was very low down and just a few feet in front of us, and I was able to identify it straightaway as a Goldcrest. It was very obliging, staying around for several minutes and so allowing me to get my best ever photo of this tiny bird.
The cricket pitch at Greys Green
The path from Greys Green to Greys Court
The path from Greys Green to Greys Court
The path from Greys Green to Greys Court
The obliging Goldcrest - along with the very similar Firecrest, this is the UK's smallest bird, even smaller than the Wren
I continued along the drive, passing the grand house on my left. The footpath then turned left, through the car park, and continued along the edge of a meadow. A little further on it went through a gate on the left to switch to the other side of the fence, and soon passed a pond.
View from Greys Court
The drive past Greys Court
Greys Court
The Haha at Greys Court
The footpath continuing from the Greys Court car park
Pond near Greys Court