Pete's Walks- Maidensgrove Common, Ibstone, Middle Assendon (page 3 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 followed the bridleway downhill until it started to curve left. Here I took a path on the right, which dropped steeply downhill through an area of scrub land, then continued downhill through a sheep pasture. On the other side I went through a narrow bit of woodland to reach another of the Wormsley Estate drives. I followed this left (I had a moment's panic when checking the map I wasn't sure that this was a right of way, but at the end of the drive there was a fingerpost and a white arrow pointing back the way I'd just come). I then crossed over Holloway Lane and took a footpath that followed a fence on my right uphill to reach Idlecombe Wood (the heavy drizzle had stopped now, fortunately). Here some 'steps' led uphill a short way to a path junction, where I turned left.
The path after I turned right from the bridleway
The path from Holloway Lane to Idlecombewood
The path continuing up through Idlecombe Wood
I was now on another of my favourite paths in the Chilterns, which stayed pretty level as it progressed through the wood, following the side of a valley. The leaves here were pretty colourful, though the occasional views out across the valley were not at their best because it was still grey and misty. After about half a mile I came to a path junction where I went right, soon moving from Idlecombe Wood to Churchfield Wood. Just after turning left the path merged with a bridleway (that came in on the right), which soon left the wood and followed a track between hedges for a very short distance before reaching Turville Court.
The path that contours along the side of the valley, through Idlecombe Wood
The path that contours along the side of the valley, through Idlecombe Wood
A view out over the valley
The path that contours along the side of the valley, through Idlecombe Wood
The path that contours along the side of the valley, now in Churchfield Wood
The bridleway leaving Churchfield Wood and heading to Turville Court
I turned left here, following a bridleway (running almost due east) that started between a paddock fence on my left and the tall hedge surrounding Turville Court. The path continued through a long field beside a smaller hedge, then followed a tall hedge on the left a short way in the next field. It then dropped steeply downhill - there is usually a fine view ahead to a junction of valleys near Fingest, but today it was as misty as the other views. At the bottom of the slope, I went through a gate and turned right (joining another section of the Chiltern Way), following a bridleway that after several hundred yards brought me to Dolesden Lane.
The bridleway from Turville Court
The bridleway from Turville Court
The bridleway from Turville Court
The bridleway from Turville Court - still a bit misty, but this view is a bit clearer than previous ones
The bridleway to Southend Farm - Dolesden Lane is behind the crossing hedgerow