Pete's Walks - Christmas Common and Studdridge Farm (page 3 of 3)
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.
Eventually the path left Great Wood, and followed a fence on the left a short way to Hale Wood. There were nice views on each side here. The path continued through Hale Wood and then crossed a field which seemed to have been left fallow this year - again there were nice views around the Wormsley Valley here.
The path continuing from Great Wood to Hale Wood
Looking right from the path between Great Wood and Hale Wood
Looking left from the path between Great Wood and Hale Wood
The path continuing through Hale Wood
The path continuing from Hale Wood (the left-most of the two apparent paths)
Looking right, along the Wormsley Valley
On the far side of the field I turned left, immediately crossing another Wormsley estate drive and taking a tree-lined bridleway that headed up that side of the Wormsley Valley in the direction of Northend. There were occasional gaps in the trees either side giving views along the valley. I noticed a crop in the fields here that I couldn't remember seeing before, and when I got home and googled it I discovered it was Miscanthus or 'Elephant Grass' - apparently it is used for renewable energy, animal bedding, and environmental management. After turning left at one point, the bridleway became less steep and eventually levelled out.
The bridleway to Northend
The bridleway to Northend
Close up of Miscanthus or 'Elephant Grass'
The bridleway to Northend
View left along the Wormsley Valley - the tall crop running across the photo is Miscanthus or 'Elephant Grass'
The bridleway to Northend
At the end of bridleway I turned right along the road through Northend (there were signs warning that it was closed to traffic somewhere ahead). After just over a quarter of a mile I took a footpath on the left that started down a driveway (marked Brackendale, I think). A waymark post a few yards down the drive indicated where the path forked left from the drive. The path soon crossed over another (or the same) driveway and went down an alley between garden boundaries. It continued between fences and hedges, then turned left along a side of part of a huge arable field. It ended at the bottom of a slight dip, where I turned left along a bridleway heading towards Fire Wood. It was here that I spent about 20 minutes looking for Clouded Yellow butterflies. The day had been sunny so far, but now the sun went behind a large grey cloud and it became a bit windy. But I still managed to see a handful of Clouded Yellows, but they never came close enough to the bridleway for me to get a decent photo.
The lane through Northend
The start of the path after I turned left in Northend
Further along that path
The bridleway after I turned left at the end of the path
The same bridleway approaching Fire Wood
I then continued through Fire Wood until I reached a path crossroads where I turned right onto another bridleway. This continued through the wood, following the bottom of a valley. After about three quarters of a mile it turned left, and fairly soon after ended when it met Hollandridge Lane as it entered Christmas Common. I turned left and followed Hollandridge Lane to its end, where I had parked.
The same bridleway continuing through Fire Wood
The bridleway after I turned right in Fire Wood
The bridleway continuing through Fire Wood
The bridleway continuing through Fire Wood
The bridleway continuing through Fire Wood, after it turns right and heads towards Hollandridge Lane
Hollandridge Lane
Hollandridge Lane
This was a very enjoyable walk, despite the difficulty with the path I'd not walked before. There were some nice long wooded sections, interspersed with some more open sections where there were often very pleasant views to be had. Crossing the Wormsley Valley twice, along different paths, reinforced my view that it's one of the nicest spots in the Chilterns. I'd be very happy to do this walk again, but I'd definitely use my 'Alternative 1'.