Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove Common and Moor Common (page 5 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.
Lunch over, I followed the path downhill alongside Fingest Wood on my left. Beyond the wood the path levelled out and followed a hedgerow on my left to reach a minor road where I turned left and immediately entered Fingest. I went past the Chequers pub on my left and the magnificent Norman church on my right, then took a path on the right. This ran between garden walls and fences for quite a way, before I went left at a path junction and came to a lane. The path continued across the lane, running between fences in an area of bushes for a few hundred yards, then dropped gently downhill across a large meadow as it approached Turville. In the corner of the meadow I turned left (through two gates) to reach the village centre.
The path down to Fingest
Fingest church
The start of the path from Fingest to Turville
The path from Fingest to Turville, approaching the lane crossing
The path from Fingest to Turville
The path from Fingest to Turville
Approaching Turville
I went more or less straight on from the centre of Turville, following School Lane to its end and then continuing straight on along a bridleway - this used to start between overhanging hedges, but the hedge on the left has been almost totally removed, giving some nice views and definitely improving this section. Through a gate, the bridleway then continued for several hundred yards alongside a hedge on my right (Poynatt's Wood where I'd been earlier was over to my left). I then crossed Dolesden Lane, the bridleway continuing on the other side and heading uphill along a track. On entering a small wood the track became a concrete drive, continuing steeply uphill. Through a gate at the edge of the wood, the bridleway continued between paddock fences, gradually levelling out as it approached Southend Farm. It then carried straight on along the drive from the farm for a quarter of a mile to reach Southend (I kept left at a fork just before reaching the hamlet).
The start of School Lane, Turville
The bridleway from Turville to Southend
The bridleway from Turville to Southend
The bridleway from Turville to Southend
The bridleway from Turville to Southend
Approaching Southend Farm
Entering Southend