Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove, Ibstone, Middle Assendon (page 5 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.
This was another of my favourite paths in the Chilterns (at least in this direction, which is gently downhill!). 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). I continued along the path unto eventually it dropped more steeply to reach a gate and the road through Stonor.
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 continuing through Stonor deer park
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
The path continuing through Stonor deer park
I turned left along the road, going straight on where a lane went right to Maidensgrove. The 'full' version of this route, which includes Middle Assendon, then takes a bridleway on the left, but on this shortened version I now went a few yards further along the road and took a footpath on the right. This ran between garden boundaries and then crossed a corn field, continuing uphill through an empty pasture (there are sometimes cows here). The path then ran through Park Wood, still slightly uphill. Beyond the wood I crossed a flat field (it had a strange crop of something with white flowers, that I didn't recognise). On reaching the far side of the field, the path turned left to reach the end of a lane by Lodge Farm in Maidensgrove. I turned right and followed the lane for about a quarter of a mile until it turned right, where I took a track going left to return to Maidensgrove Common and my parked car.
Near the start of the path from Stonor to Maidensgrove
The path from Stonor to Maidensgrove
The path from Stonor to Maidensgrove
View back over Stonor to Stonor deer park
View left along the Stonor valley
The path from Stonor to Maidensgrove, in Park Wood
The lane through Maidensgrove
Maidensgrove Common
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this was my first walk outside of my local area for almost a year. Much as I appreciate how lucky I am to have some fine countryside right on my doorstep, I'd reached the point where I was desperate to see somewhere different again! I knew it was going to be too hot today for me to walk my 15-mile favourite route in the Chilterns, but this shortened version of it was ideal. It still included many of my favourite paths, all walked in the direction with the best views. In fact there were fine views almost throughout the walk (even on the 'shortcut' from Stonor to Maidensgrove, though the best of these was looking back. It's certainly a walk I'll do again if I haven't the time and/or energy to do the 'full' route.