Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove, Ibstone, Middle Assendon (page 4 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 turned left through a gate here, and followed a bridleway between a paddock on my left and the boundary hedge of Turville Court on my right. Beyond the paddock I stayed beside a hedge as I passed through a meadow. Through a gate way in the corner, I continued beside another bit of Churchfield Wood on my left for a short distance, as far as a seat, where I stopped to eat my lunch (it was now 1.40pm). The bridleway then dropped steeply downhill to a gate in a long hedgerow. As I descended here, there was a fine view ahead of me to where five valleys meet near Fingest (the cover of OS Explorer map 172 used to have a photo taken from near the end of the bridleway).
The start of the bridleway from Turville Court, after I turned left
The bridleway from Turville Court
The bridleway from Turville Court
The bridleway from Turville Court
Through the gate I turned right along a bridleway that followed the far side of the hedge, heading towards Southend. After about a third of a mile this brought me 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 and a junction with a lane.
The bridleway to Southend, after I turned right
The bridleway to Southend
The bridleway to Southend
The bridleway to Southend
The bridleway to Southend, approaching Southend Farm
The bridleway to Southend
Southend
I turned left along the lane, then took a footpath on the right after a couple of hundred yards or so. This soon 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. I spotted my first Yellow Pimpernel of the year along here. 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.
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