Pete's Walks - Coombe Hill and the Hampdens (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 along the lane and immediately reached a road junction. I crossed over and went down a private road or drive. This soon turned right, then when it turned left I went straight on down a footpath. This initially ran between gardens, then between trees on my left and a hedge on the right. It then crossed a large arable field, went across a track and through a tree belt, before continuing alongside a fence on my left through a huge meadow and heading towards Great Hampden church. After going through the churchyard, passing to the left of the church, I turned left along a gravel drive, went through a gate and then immediately turned right through another gate. I now passed in front of Hampden House on my right. The path continued downhill through Lady Hampden's Wood and then through a large field to reach the road that runs through the valley of Hampden Bottom.
The lane or private drive at Hampden Common
The footpath from Hampden Common to Great Hampden church
The footpath from Hampden Common to Great Hampden church
The footpath from Hampden Common to Great Hampden church
The path after I turned right near Hampden House
Hampden House
The path through Lady Hampden's Wood
The path continuing down into Hampden Bottom
On the other side of the road, I continued along a path running inside a tree belt. After about a third of a mile, the path left the tree belt through a gap on the right and cut across a corner of another field, then rose uphill through a meadow of rough grass to reach another wood - there was a seat carved out of a tree trunk here, where I stopped for my lunch. On the other side of the narrow wood, I turned right on a permissive path to reach a field corner where I turned left for a few yards. I then entered Warren Wood on my right, almost immediately turning left at a path junction. When this path left the wood, it continued along a track to reach the lane in Little Hampden, where I turned left.
The path to Little Hampden
The path to Little Hampden
The path to Little Hampden (there is a seat where the path enters the trees, I stopped there to eat my packed lunch)
View back over Hampden Bottom
The path as it approaches Warren Wood
The path in Warren Wood
The track into Little Hampden
At the end of the lane, by what was formerly the Rising Sun pub (last house on left), I took a bridleway forking right (a footpath went further right from the same point) and followed it northeast-wards through more woodland for about half a mile, gradually descending to reach a valley bottom. Here I went straight on at a path crossroads, the bridleway now heading more eastwards as it rose up the other side of the valley, now in Scrub Wood. I followed the bridleway all the way to its end near the top of the slope, where I turned left onto another bridleway.
The lane through Little Hampden
The bridleway going northeast from Little Hampden
The bridleway going northeast from Little Hampden
The bridleway going northeast from Little Hampden
The bridleway continuing up the other side of the valley