Pete's Walks- Gaddesden Row and Potten End (page 6 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.
Through the gate I stopped and checked my map, as I was at a path junction and I was undecided as to which way to go. If I went straight on, I'd be briefly on a path I'd not walked before, but then I'd be back on the route I walked last March. In the end I decided to turn left and stay on the Chiltern Way, as it would mean a longer section on paths I'd not walked for many years and less time on the route I walked last year (as I was making my mind up, a horse came and prodded me in the stomach with its nose - I'd like to think it was being affectionate but suspect it was sniffing out my pockets for sweets or apples). In the corner of the field I went over a stile, and then more or less followed the route of a line of telephone poles in the next large field, with a wood called Oaken Grove to my right. The path then continued through Marsh Wood, passing close to Home Farm on my right. On leaving the wood it continued along a drive heading towards another large house, Golden Parsonage.
The path after I turned left at the path junction by Gaddesden Place
The path continuing through Marsh Wood
The path continuing through Marsh Wood
The path continuing towards Golden Parsonage
On reaching a gateway where hedgerows came in on both sides, the path went half-left across a dandelion-strewn meadow (I was now back on the route I walked last March, which had come in along a track on my right). Through a gate, the path continued in the same direction, passing some Chestnut trees, with Golden Parsonage over to my right. The path then went through another gate, and followed a hedge on my left to reach the drive to a house named The Lane House (according to the OS map). The Chiltern Way went right here, but I turned left through a pedestrian gate and went a few yards down the drive towards the house, then turned right (initially with a pond on my right). On reaching a gate, the path went half-left across a paddock to another gate, turning half-right to follow a hedge on my left through another paddock. The path then continued along a headland between fields of oil-seed rape (I remembered to take my usual photo of the white water tower over on the right) to reach Ledgemore Lane.
The footpath after it turns half-left, near Golden Parsonage
The footpath after it turns half-left, near Golden Parsonage
The footpath approaching The Lane House
The footpath from The Lane House
The footpath from The Lane House
The footpath from The Lane House
The footpath from The Lane House
The white Water Tower
Across the lane, the path continued for a few hundred yards between paddock fences, passing Six Tunnels Farm over on my right. Beyond the paddocks, I went straight on, keeping to the left of a hedgerow for a short distance and then turning right at a path junction. I now simply followed a track past an orchard and then some allotments to reach the road called Gaddesden Row (the settlement here is also called Gaddesden Row, that's what it says on the sign when you enter Jockey End) where I turned left to return to where I'd started.
The path continuing from Ledgemore Lane
The path continuing from Ledgemore Lane
The path continuing from Ledgemore Lane (I turned right by the tree in the hedgerow on the right)
The path past the orchard and allotments in Jockey End
The path past the orchard and allotments in Jockey End
I enjoyed the walk very much, as I had the shorter version I did last March. The new paths I walked either side of Picotts End were OK, but nothing special, but the part of the Chiltern Way I followed from Potten End through Water End and back to Gaddesden Row was very pleasant - I really can't think why I haven't walked it more often, because I know I liked it both times I walked the Chiltern Way and it's very close to my home. After a grey start it had turned into a fine Spring day, which certainly contributed to my enjoyment of the walk, as did the numerous wild flowers I saw.