Pete's Walks- Cowleaze Wood, Studdridge Farm, Christmas Common (page 1 of 5)
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 did this circular walk of about 9.4 miles on Saturday, 25th January 2015. It was a repeat of a walk I first did in January 2015.
I parked in the car park at Cowleaze Wood (about 2 miles west of Stokenchurch and a similar distance north of Christmas Common - grid reference SU 726956), and started walking about 11.15am. I went down the broad (and rather muddy) track opposite the car park entrance, which soon turned into a narrower path running eastwards through the wood. There had been an information board at the start of the track about a Halifax bomber that crashed here in 1944, and I was pleased to see that the route to the memorial to the crew is now better signposted (with white arrows on a purple background) than when I first visited it in 2015. After following the path for maybe a third of a mile, a waymark pointed left to where the memorial is, just 20-30 yards into the wood from the path. It was good to see that there were two wreaths and a number of poppies around the memorial, so the crew who perished are not forgotten. I returned to the path and carried on through Cowleaze Wood. Beyond the wood the path dropped downhill through two fields (there are usually fine views here over part of the Wormsley Valley ahead of me, but as with all the views today they were restricted by the grey and slightly misty conditions) to reach a drive on the Wormsley estate near Lower Vicar's Farm.
The start of the footpath from the Cowleaze Wood car park
The footpath through Cowleaze Wood
The memorial to the crew of a Halifax bomber that crashed here in March 1944, returning from a raid on Nuremberg
Information board about the Halifax bomber that crashed here
The footpath through Cowleaze Wood
The path continuing down into the Wormsley Valley near Lower Vicar's Farm
I turned left along the drive and then took a path on the right that went through the grounds of Lower Vicar's Farm (which was to my left). The path then went uphill (and slightly left) across a sloping paddock to reach Langleygreen Plantation. The path continued uphill through the wood. On reaching a crossing bridleway, I turned right and followed the bridleway southwards for about half a mile as it gradually descended to reach another estate drive near Wellground Farm.
The Wormsley Esate drive near Lower Vicar's Farm, after I turned left
The path passing Lower Vicar's Farm, after I turned right from the Wormsley Esate drive
The path between Lower Vicar's Farm and Langleygreen Plantation
The path going uphill through Langleygreen Plantation
The path going uphill through Langleygreen Plantation
The bridleway going south through Langleygreen Plantation
The bridleway going south through Langleygreen Plantation
The path going south through Langleygreen Plantation, descending towards Wellground Farm (curiously the OS map shows that it has changed from a bridleway to a footpath now)
I crossed over the drive and continued along the bridleway on the other side, running through Bowley's Wood and climbing uphill. After a few hundred yards the bridleway turned left, but continued uphill through the wood. It seemed quite a long way uphill, though the gradient was never too steep. Eventually the bridleway ended when it reached a minor road going south from Stokenchurch towards Ibstone, away to my right.
The start of the bridleway through Bowley's Wood
The bridleway through Bowley's Wood - from where it turns left
The bridleway through Bowley's Wood
The bridleway through Bowley's Wood
The bridleway through Bowley's Wood, shortly before it reaches the road