Pete's Walks - Cowleaze Wood, Crowell, Stokenchurch (page 6 of 6)
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 crossed one of the estate drives and continued along a footpath that started to gradually rise uphill through Langleygreen Plantation - I soon saw my first Wood Anemones of 2025 here. The path continued gently uphill through the wood, becoming a bridleway at some point, before very gradually levelling out. After walking through the wood on the path/bridleway for about half a mile I came to a path crossroads, where I turned left.
The start of the path through Langleygreen Plantation
The path through Langleygreen Plantation
The path through Langleygreen Plantation
The path through Langleygreen Plantation
The path through Langleygreen Plantation
This path dropped down through the wood, then crossed a paddock and passed just left of Lower Vicar's Farm to reach another of the drives on the Wormsley Estate. I turning right onto a bridleway that runs along the drive, soon passing the farm on my right. The drive then turned left, and ran for several hundred yards along a small valley, before gradually rising uphill, going through a wood and passing Upper Vicar's Farm (just a farmhouse) to reach a minor road. I crossed the road and took a path that went a short way across a meadow or pasture. Over a stile, I then turned left along a path that runs along the edge of part of the Aston Rowant nature reserve. I followed the path a short distance, admiring the far-reaching views to my right when there were occasional gaps in the hedge on that side. I soon came to the start of Hill Road again, where I went straight on, retracing my steps from the start of the walk, through a narrow pasture and then crossing the road back to the car park where I'd started from.
The path descending through Langleygreen Plantation, after I turned left
The path where it leaves Langleygreen Plantation
The Wormsley Estate drive after I turned right
The drive continuing from Lower Vicar's Farm to Upper Vicar's Farm
The drive continuing from Lower Vicar's Farm to Upper Vicar's Farm
The end of the Wormsley Estate drive
The field after I crossed the road
View from the path through the Aston Rowant nature reserve
The path through the Aston Rowant nature reserve
View from the path through the Aston Rowant nature reserve
The path through the Aston Rowant nature reserve
This was a walk of two halves, a long flat section in very grey conditions, followed by a very up and down section in sunny conditions. I was glad that I'd decided to shorten the route - the extra 1.2 miles distance wouldn't have been a problem if they were flat, but the extra three ups and downs that Alternative 1 had avoided would have left me totally shattered at the end of the walk. I enjoyed the walk, the flat stretch along the bridleways at the start made a bit of a change, though I wouldn't have wanted to go much further along the flat. The rest of the walk was very up and down, and much of it was in very pleasant woodland.