Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove, Ibstone, Middle Assendon (page 5 of 7)
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 turned right along a bridleway that followed the far side of the hedge. When I came this way six weeks ago (on my Ibstone, Skirmett and Wheeler End walk), I soon took a path forking half-left, but today I stayed on the bridleway and followed it alongside the hedge all the way to Dolesden Lane. Across the lane, the bridleway went quite steeply uphill between a fence and a hedge on my right, and it was just as steep as it continued along a concrete farm track through a small wood. The gradient gradually eased as the bridleway left the wood and carried on between paddocks either side, so that it was quite level by the time I reached Southend Farm. I went straight on along the drive from the farm for about a quarter of a mile, keeping left at a fork to reach the green at Southend, where I sat on one of the two benches on the right to eat my lunch.
The bridleway to Southend, after I turned right
The bridleway to Southend, after crossing Dolesden Lane
The bridleway to Southend
The bridleway to Southend
Approaching Southend Farm
The bridleway continuing between Southend Farm and Southend
Southend
At the end of the drive I turned left along a lane, then took a footpath on the right after a couple of hundred yards or so. This initially had a field nearby on my right, then started to drop downhill, with Balham's Wood on my left and Kildridge Wood on my right. After a few hundred yards a white arrow showed where the path forked slightly left from the track it had been following, passing through an area of Rhododendrons to reach a gate in the tall fence around Stonor deer park. The path was as delightful as ever as it continued gently downhill through the deer park (though as this was a Bank Holiday there were a lot of visitors and the car park for Stonor House was pretty full). After a while I could see the grand house and its ancient chapel over to my right, and I had an ever improving view ahead of me towards Pishill (where I'd been much earlier on the walk). Somewhere along here I met the two ladies I'd seen near Commonhill Wood, and we stopped and chatted for a minute or two. I continued along the path unto eventually it dropped more steeply to reach a gate and the road through Stonor.
Near the start of the path from Southend to Stonor
The path from Southend to Stonor
The path from Southend to Stonor
The path from Southend to Stonor
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
Stonor House
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
View towards Pishill
The path approaching the road at Stonor