Saturday Walkers' Club

Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1

Walk 9 : Shiplake to Henley

River Thames, Rotherfield Greys & Greys Court

Length 17.25km (10.7 miles), 5 hours 15 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 8 hours 45 minutes.
Maps OS Explorer No.171, OS Landranger No.175. Shiplake, map reference SU 776 797, is in Oxfordshire, 9km north-east of Reading.
Toughness4 out of 10.
Features This walk is a bit like the scenery in a cowboy film: as soon as you are more than a few feet up, you have magnificent views over the unspoilt Thames valley. From Shiplake Lock the route follows the Thames, then up to the church beside Shiplake College, and through bluebell woods beside Crowsley Park (the grandiose site for the BBC’s listening masts), to the church and pub in Rotherfield Greys. The cherry trees and cricket green in the hamlet of Greys Green lead on into the National Trust estate of Greys Court, and from there into the beechwoods of Lambridge, and past Friar Park, with its splendidly over-opulent Gothic gatehouse, to a teahouse in Henley beside the church and river bridge. Note that if there has been sustained heavy rain the river may be flooded and make the first stretch along the river impassable.
Shortening the Walk

After lunch at the Maltsters Arms pub in Rotherfield Greys, you could take a direct footpath to Henley (see the asterisk [*] in the book’s walk directions), and so avoid the extra 4 km involved in visiting Greys Court; or you could call a taxi from the pub. Earlier in the walk, on Shiplake Row, there are hourly buses from near the White Hart pub into Henley or Reading.

Lengthening the walk

For the fit who like walking “long”, try adding on Book 1 Walk 1 – Henley-on-Thames (round walk) to the end of this walk, making an overall walk of some 20.5 miles, or head north out of Henley along the Thames Path and bear east to Marlow.
History

Shiplake was as close as the Vikings could get their ships to their main encampment in Reading - hence, possibly, the name 'Ship lack'. There were vineyards on the riverside slopes during Tudor and Stuart times.

Shiplake College was built in the 1890s by a stockbroker; it was used by the BBC in World War II; and became a school in 1959.

Shiplake Church dates from the eleventh century and contains stained glass from the Abbey of St Omer in France. The poet Tennyson was married here in 1850 - he wrote: 'The Peace of God came into my life before the altar when I wedded her.' Four times a week Shiplake College uses the church for its assemblies.

St Nicholas Church in Rotherfield Greys contains the ornate tomb of Robert Knollys, Elizabeth I's treasurer who took charge of Mary Queen of Scots during her imprisonment; and of Robert's wife Katherine, a first cousin to Elizabeth I; and the effigies of their 16 children. The church curate reported in 1738 that, so poor were his parishioners, of the 'Absenters from ye Church there are a great many yet come but seldom [for] want of clothes'. Whilst the church's Revd J Ingram wrote of his experiment in 1823 to create jobs by cultivating opium: 'From its purity it was found of superior efficacy to that bought from Turkey or the East Indies, and I obtained a high price for it from the Society of Apothecaries Hall.'

Greys Court (tel 01491 628 529), owned by the National Trust, is a sixteenth-century house of brick, flint and stone, erected in the ruins of a vast mansion that was castellated by the first Lord Grey in 1347 - with a licence from Edward III, in recognition of loyal service at the Battle of Crecy. The house is today the home of Lady Brunner, a granddaughter of the actor Sir Henry Irving. The estate has a maze, two possibly Tudor towers, ruins and a large donkey wheel and horse wheel that were used for pumping up water. The house has recently been refurbished. The gardens are open from the end of March to September, Tuesday to Saturday and bank holiday Mondays, 12–5pm; admission is £4.50 (free cup of tea for walkers), Family ticket £ 11.25; Children £ 2.25

Henley, with its 300 listed buildings, is said to be the oldest settlement in Oxfordshire.

LunchThe suggested lunchtime pub is the Maltsters Arms tel 01491 628 400) in Rotherfield Greys, serving food daily from midday to 2pm. However, this pub is 10.3km from the start of the walk, so, if you think that you will not get there in time, the suggested alternative is 4km earlier on: the thatched pub in Binfield Heath called the Bottle & Glass Inn (tel 01491 575 755), where food is served from midday to 1.45pm daily.
Saturday Walkers Club

Take the train nearest to 9-05 am from London Paddington Station to Shiplake, changing at Twyford, journey time about 1hr. Return from Henley Station.

Rail Ticket: Buy a cheap day return to Henley-on-Thames.

This walk comes up in the Book One walk schedule each year in March, although it also makes for an excellent “Bluebell” walk for the last week in April or the first week in May.
Lunch

The suggested lunchtime pub is the Maltsters Arms (tel. 01491-628400) in Rotherfield Greys, serving food daily from midday to 2-15 pm (2 pm Sunday). However, this pub is 10.3km from the start of the walk, so, if you think that you will not get there in time, the suggested alternative is 4km earlier on: the thatched pub in Binfield Heath called the Bottle & Glass Inn (tel. 01491 575 755), where food is served from midday to 1.45pm daily.
Tea

The suggested tea place at walk end is the Henley Tea Rooms (tel. 01491- 411412) in Thames Street, facing the river (open Monday to Friday to 5pm, weekends to 6 pm). The railway station is 5 minutes walk away.

There are also a large number of pubs in Henley for those in need of a stronger drink.
Travel by Train
  • Out:
  • Back:
Travel by Car

Start: Shiplake Station is near : RG9 3NU [gmap]

Finish: Henley-on-Thames Station is near : RG9 1BE [gmap]

Return to your car by train:

  • (park at the start) at 4pm
  • (park at the end) at 10am
OS Explorer Map

171 : Chiltern Hills West [Amazon]
Revised

This walk was fully revised in : Aug-08

For the walk map, please see the Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1
Updates

Some paths have been re-numbered. [details]
Other Thames Valley Walks Henley (round walk), Pangbourne (round walk), Oxford round walk, Sunningdale to Windsor, Cookham (round walk), Mortimer to Aldermaston or Theale, Henley to Pangbourne, Henley via Stonor Circular, Henley via Hambleden Circular, Marlow Circular, Goring Circular, Newbury Racecourse to Woolhampton, Appleford Circular, Cholsey to Goring, Maidenhead to Marlow, Thames Path : Reading to Henley, Thames Path : Marlow via Cookham Circular,

Walking Instructions 

[Numbers refer to the map]. Changes in text to the Book text, latest edition (Ebury 2005) are shown in thus.
  1. [1] Coming off the train at Shiplake Station, head left towards the end of the platform (away from Henley) and go down steps with grey railings, your direction 250°. In 3 metres go through a white swing gate and straight on; and in 85 metres turn left on a tarmac road, your direction 160°.
  2. Ignore ways off. In 425 metres, by a brick postbox, take a road to the left, marked Lashbrook Farm and Thames Path (with Crowsley Road going off to the right), your direction 120°. In 15 metres, go over the stream, and in a further 20 metres, turn right on a footpath signposted ‘Thames Path, To Shiplake Lock’, your direction 165°, down steps and through a metal kissing gate.
  3. In 45 metres go through another metal kissing gate and straight on, with a fence on your right-hand side, your direction now 190°. In 150 metres cross a gravel track and in 40 metres you reach a gravel road, opposite Mill House, where you go right, your direction 250°. In 20 metres turn left onto a tarmac lane, following a Thames Path signpost to Sonning, your direction 195°.
  4. In 35 metres go through a wooden kissing gate on your right-hand side, with Shiplake Lock and the River Thames on your left-hand side, your direction 245°.
  5. In 300 metres go through a metal swing gate with high lever mechanism and continue ahead. In a further 350 metres you go through a metal kissing gate and continue along the edge of the river, now with a hedge on the right-hand side. In 150 metres go over a wooden bridge made of six railway sleepers with wooden handrails. In a further 200 metres [2] you come to a small bridge on your left-hand side, but you stay on this side of the river, about 20 metres from the bank, to take the car-wide gravel path straight on, which has the Shiplake College boathouses on its right-hand side, your direction 240° (chalk cliffs are 50 metres away on your right-hand side).
  6. In 90 metres turn right uphill on a narrow bridleway (not the earth car-wide track to its left), your direction 10°, soon with the occasional concrete step.
  7. In 150 metres you enter the churchyard of Shiplake Church, with Shiplake College off to your right. After looking around the church turn right out of the church door, leaving the churchyard by the cedar of Lebanon.
  8. Turn right on the car lane (Church Lane), your direction 310°. In 250 metres cross the A4155, slightly to the left, to continue on Plough Lane, past the Plowden Arms pub on your left-hand side; ignore two roads going off to the right.
  9. In 200 metres, just past the timber-framed Tudor Cottages on your lefthand side, go left on a signposted footpath, your direction 230° (a concrete road).
  10. In 40 metres do not veer left with the concrete road, but go straight on through a metal kissing gate, cross a farm track and squeeze between a gap in electric fences and keep ahead, gently uphill, with the field fence on your left-hand side, your direction now 330°.
  11. In 350 metres go over a stile with stone steps and a footpath sign, where you turn right, the field fence on your right-hand side.
  12. In 150 metres you come to the end of the field. There is a redundant footpath sign on your right. Turn left and follow the edge of the field for 85 metres. By the first of two copses and a mini-pylon, turn right over a stile and continue north for 50 metres.
  13. Go over another stile and then continue on the path in the same direction, towards a cluster of three houses. In 200 metres veer right along the field edge, keeping the fence on your left, until you reach a road [3]. You are next to the White Hart pub (but this is not the lunchtime stop). There are buses here to Henley or Reading once an hour.
  14. Cross the road, slightly to the right, and pick up the signposted footpath to the right of Waylands House, your direction 5°, and follow a line of telegraph poles, with a hedge on your left.
  15. In 200 metres you come to an earth car road (Kiln Lane) by a bungalow, where you go left, your direction 260°.
  16. Ignore all turnings off. In 760 metres you come to a car T-junction, at which you turn right, your direction 350°.
  17. In 650 metres you come to the Bottle & Glass Inn in Binfield Heath. The suggested lunchtime stop is still 4km away, but try this place if you cannot get to the next pub by 2pm or want lunch now.
  18. Go past the pub (on your right) on a car-wide track. In 40 metres ignore a right-hand turn into a farmyard and take the lesser path, continuing straight on, your direction 290°.
  19. In 350 metres bear right with the path. In a further 100 metres [4], by a post with a blue arrow left and a yellow arrow right, follow the blue bridleway arrow to the left, into the wood, your direction 295°. Keep to the main path.
  20. Ignore all turnings off and follow the arrows on trees as the bridleway descends. In 350 metres you cross an earth car-wide track marked with ‘No horses’ signs on either side. The bridleway swings to the right and in a further 80 metres it levels out before narrowing and starting to go uphill, your bearing now 300°. In 200 metres you reach the battered iron railings of the BBC’s Crowsley Park (with listening masts) on your left-hand side and you bear right, your direction now 345°.
  21. Ignoring ways off, in 300 metres you cross the drive to Keeper’s Cottage and you keep ahead, now downhill. In a further 250 metres, you leave the wood to a car road T-junction, where you turn left, your direction 255°.
  22. You pass a timber-framed mansion, Old Place (marked on the OS map), on your right-hand side, then take the road right at the end of the building, signed The Chiltern Way Extension, your direction 355°. In 85 metres, fork left with the road, still uphill, your direction 320°.
  23. In 550 metres, by Kingsfield House, ignore a footpath sign off to the left. In a further 100 metres, just before the road veers left, take the path to the right of two cottages, following the footpath sign, and go over a stile (a metal fieldgate to its left), your direction 80°, on an earth car-wide road.
  24. [!] In 35 metres, by the back of a garage, by a concealed yellow arrow on a post, go left over a stile [5] and straight on, your direction 20°, between fences.
  25. In 135 metres go over another stile and straight on, across a grass road and then between fences. In a further 200 metres leave the paddocks through a line of tees and go straight on across open fields.
  26. In 125 metres at a path junction, follow the arrow on a telegraph pole, ahead and onwards, and follow arrows on posts as you proceed between fields. In 150 metres a wire fence starts on your left-hand side. In a further 150 metres pass between a gap in the fence ahead. In 175 metres go through a wooden field gate onto a worn tarmac road with Cowfields Farm (so marked on the OS map) on your right-hand side.
  27. In a further 75 metres follow the yellow arrow half left, your direction 325°, on a tractor way across the field (the right hand of two paths across this field), heading slightly to the right of St Nicholas Church, which is just visible in the distance. In 350 metres exit the field between a gap in the hedge and come out on to a small road. Cross it and in 10 metres you reach a larger road T-junction, where you turn left, your direction 290° (you can see Greys Court House 1.5km ahead of you, at 340°).
  28. In 360 metres you come to St Nicholas Church in Rotherfield Greys and, 35 metres beyond the church, the Malsters Arms, the suggested lunchtime stop.
  29. Coming out of the pub door after lunch, turn right and, a little beyond the church, just after a bus stop on the left, turn left through a wooden kissing gate. Here there are two options. For the short walk mentioned in the introduction [*] take the right-hand footpath signposted to Henley and follow the signs to get back to Henley (compass and map advised). For the main walk take the left-hand footpath, your direction 20°.
  30. In 135 metres go over a stile and straight on into a wood, following a clear path, downhill, your direction 35°.
  31. In 170 metres exit the wood over a stile and turn left, your direction 305°, and walk with the edge of the wood on your left-hand side, gently uphill.
  32. In 120 metres you pass a stile with an ex-vicarage on your left-hand side. In 80 metres go over a stile (or pass if still broken). The path winds uphill and in a further 120 metres you come out to a minor car road [6], where you turn left, due south, in 35 metres passing Green Place House on your right-hand side. 60 metres beyond the house’s driveway, at a T-junction, go right, your direction 295°.
  33. In 100 metres, by a war memorial, you join a more major road lined with cherry trees. Bear left following the signpost direction to Nettlebed, your direction west.
  34. In 240 metres you pass the wooden village hall of Greys Green on your left-hand side. 20 metres beyond the village hall turn right onto an earth car road, with a signpost to Greys Court, due north, with the cricket green on your left-hand side.
  35. In 85 metres, turn left in front of a row of cottages and at their further end pick up a signposted footpath The Chiltern Way Extension to the right, your direction 65°. In a further 50 metres you pass a broken stile and go down into a wood on a clear path.
  36. In 50 metres you go over a stile and descend steeply. In 60 metres exit the wood over a stile and go straight on across a field, downhill to a dip then uphill, your direction 45°, towards Greys Court, in winter visible across the valley. In 80 metres cross a stile to leave the field. In 5 metres cross a tarmac lane and keep ahead and in 20 metres you cross another stile to enter Greys Court land, your direction 55°.
  37. In 40 metres join a tarmac drive to go straight on uphill. In a further 160 metres, a left turn leads to a horse wheel and donkey wheel, and the main house. But the public footpath is straight on, past the manor on your left-hand side, protected by its ha ha (wall). You pass the visitor site hut and ticket kiosk, then join a tarmac road coming in from the left, following yellow arrows, your direction 15°.
  38. In 100 metres go through a wooden gate and continue with pine trees on your left-hand side. In 120 metres go through another wooden gate (a wooden fieldgate on its left-hand side) and continue. In a further 70 metres go over a stile in the left-hand fence and turn right onto a path going in the same direction as before.
  39. In a further 25 metres go over a wooden bridge structure with a wooden railing and a pond on the right-hand side. In 35 metres ignore a yellow-arrow path up some steps to the left. In 40 metres go through a wooden gate and turn left.
  40. In a further 5 metres, go over a stile (with a metal fieldgate on its left-hand side and a farm shed ahead of it) to go right, and continue in your previous direction, 50°, with the fence on your right-hand side.
  41. In 130 metres you come to a tarmac lane and ignore the two sets of onward footpath arrows visible [7], then turn right downhill on a lane, your direction 105°.
  42. In 55 metres you come to a tarmac road T-junction by Broadplat Croft, where you turn left uphill and, in 10 metres, take the footpath right, signposted Lower Assenden, bearing left after 7 metres into the beech­wood marked on the OS map as Lambridge Wood, your direction 55°.
  43. Following yellow arrows on the trees, you come in 290 metres to the start of open fields visible off to your right-hand side (you remain in the wood, parallel to the fields).
  44. At the end of these fields on your right-hand side, cross a minor path and follow yellow arrows straight on, deeper into the wood, your direction 55°. In 320 metres you come to a crossing [8] marked with crossed yellow arrows on a tree. Here, 10 metres beyond the first marked tree, take path no.25 to the right, your direction 125°, gently downhill.
  45. In 140 metres ignore a fork marked no.27 to the left. In a further 30 metres you come to a T-junction, at which you turn left. You are now on the edge of the wood again, with fields on your right-hand side, your direction now 135°.
  46. In a further 75 metres, bear slightly left with the main path to a yellow arrow on a tree 30 metres away, with a small crater to its right. In 40 metres ignore path no.51 (to the left) to keep on with path no.25, now uphill.
  47. In 525 metres, as you pass a huge industrial corrugated shed off to your right-hand side, stay on path no.25 (rather than forking right onto path no.49). In 50 metres at a junction bear right and in 30 metres exit the wood over a low stile [9] onto a golf course, coming out between the greens for hole 13 to your left and 12 to your right, to go straight on, your direction 145°.
  48. By green 12 you come to a line of trees, which you thereafter keep on your right-hand side. Follow the posts with orange or yellow directional arrows across the golf course. In 500 metres you come to a stile (with a wooden fieldgate to its right) and cross it, to go straight on, along a tarmac lane with brick bands, your direction 105°.
  49. In 60 metres go over a stile (a wooden fieldgate to its left) and straight on. In 45 metres you join a tarmac road coming in from the left, going through an open gate in the same direction, past the entrance to Lambridge House on the left-hand side.
  50. In a further 80 metres you pass a folly, (The Temple), screened by fences on your right-hand side. In a further 150 metres you come to Croft Cottage on your left-hand side (being redeveloped /extended August 2008) [10], where you turn left as the road bends to the right, onto a signposted footpath, your direction 80°. (The house where George Harrison used to live, Friar Park, is on the other side of the high fence topped with razor wire to your right.)
  51. In 200 metres you come to a housing estate road (Crisp Road), where you turn right, your direction 120°. In 165 metres turn right uphill into Hop Gardens.
  52. In 400 metres you come almost to the main road T-junction. Just to your right is the Victorian Gothic splendour of Friar Park’s lodge house. Turn left onto the minor road, 5 metres before the main road (West Street), which has a one-way sign, your direction due east.
  53. In 120 metres you pass Row Barge pub on your right-hand side, and keep on, heading for the church, crossing the main road junction with Kings Road, down the pedestrianised Market Place and crossing Bell Street. Just beyond the church with the Red Lion Hotel on your left, turn right along the riverfront. In 50 metres you reach the Henley Tearooms on your right-hand side, the suggested tea place. After tea turn right and continue to the Boats for Hire place, where you bend right with the road, taking the second left to Henley Station by the Imperial Hotel.