Walk 10 : Beaconsfield (round walk)

Milton's cottage & a Quaker hamlet

Walking Instructions 

[Numbers refer to the map]

1. [1] From platform 2 cross over the footbridge to platform 1 and exit Beaconsfield Railway Station through the ticket barriers. Take the surfaced footpath opposite (a few metres to your left), uphill, and sign­posted Model Village. At the top of this footpath in 100 metres, carry straight on along Caledon Close. In 40 metres take the road to the left – St Michael’s Green – your direction 345 degrees.
2. In 100 metres you pass the Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels on your right hand side. For Bekonscot Model Village and Railway take the road to your left, following the sign to the Model Village. To continue the main walk: follow the road as it bends around to the right into Grenfell Road.
3. In 300 metres – and 10 metres before the road curves around to the right into Wilton Road – turn left into a road which has no street sign (but also Wilton Road), your direction 350 degrees.
4. [2] In 120 metres you come to the end of what you can now see is Wilton Road, and to a traffic island planted with trees and bushes. Go round the left of this island, straight over the main road (slightly to the right) and down the enclosed public footpath dead ahead, your direction 20 degrees initially.
5. Ignore ways off and keep straight ahead, initially between back gardens. In 325 metres the gardens end on your right. Bear left with the path, your direction 5 degrees, with a wooden fence on your left and a wooded area now on your right.
6. In 350 metres [!] ignore a footpath to your right, marked by a footpath post, and keep ahead (slightly to your left), your direction 300 degrees.
7. In 75 metres you pass a Penn House Estate Notice Board. [!] 8 metres beyond it, at a footpath post, take the right-hand fork, your direction 345 degrees, gently uphill, into the wood.   Keep to this path and, in 260 metres, by a post with a yellow arrow, ignore the paths you cross to continue straight on, along the same path, due north, and gently uphill.
8. 320 metres further on, you come to a point where another path crosses the path you are on. At this juncture, there is a single white arrow on a tree pointing straight ahead. Continue straight on, for another 20 metres, until you come to another tree with a white arrow pointing left and right, and here [!] turn right off the path, your direction 70 degrees initially. [3].
9. At another (unsigned) path junction in 25 metres, bear right on the main path and keep to it, ignoring ways off, for the next 500 metres, initially gradually uphill, following footpath posts. At this point (almost a T junction) a wide track comes in from the left and you bear right, your direction 110 degrees initially, now following the edge of a field on your right-hand side.
10. In 250 metres the path passes between two gaps in fences and in a further 20 metres you pass by a redundant kissing gate and exit onto a lane with   a three-armed footpath sign on your left. What was Wood Cottage on your right-hand side is being redeveloped or rebuilt (August 2009).
11. Turn left into the road and follow it as it immediately curves right and down the hill. Walk down the road for 750 metres until it brings you out on to a road (the A355) with fast-moving traffic. Cross this road with care and walk straight ahead along the car-wide track ahead of you, your direction 125 degrees initially. In 125 metres ignore the fork left to a metal fieldgate and swing right with the track, downhill.
12. In 300 metres, ignore a stile on your left and at a crossroads, by a four-way footpath sign, keep straight ahead, on the same track, now going up a hill, your direction east. 200 metres brings you out to the top of this hill, with views through gates to left and right. Just follow the path between hedgerows and underneath overhead cables.
13. In 200 metres the path brings you down on to a road [4] where you turn left, your direction 40 degrees, and walk along the road. In 250 metres the road curves sharply around to the right and you turn left off the road, to go straight ahead.
14.   In 20 metres you pass a barrier and enter Hodgemoor Woods. In 40 metres at a footpath post ignore a turn to the left and keep ahead, your direction 20 degrees initially. Keep to this path, ignoring all ways off and crossings of paths – for instance, at the first junction, in 140 metres, take the left fork, more or less straight on, your direction due north.
15. In 250 metres cross a main horse riding track and keep ahead. In a further 150 metres, uphill, you come to a T-junction with a corrugated barn dead ahead. Here you turn right. In 30 metres, walk past the entrance gate to the barn on your left. 25 metres beyond that, there are two paths going off to the right.
16. [!] It is easy to get lost during the next 500 metres or so, so please follow these directions carefully. Take the first path sharply to the right, signed by a no-horses symbol on a white-topped post, up into the trees, your direction 140 degrees initially. This path soon becomes a car-wide track.
17. In 70 metres keep ahead at a crossing of paths. In a further 80 metres, bear right with the track, now due south, through a potentially muddy stretch.
18. In 75 metres, bear left on the track through a grassier area, your direction now 110 degrees. In 70 metres you come out to a path junction. [!] Turn left onto the gravel track, your direction 80 degrees. In 25 metres you pass a post with a yellow band on your left-hand side, then in 5 metres a permitted horse riding post on your path (with no horse riding posts to the minor cross paths ahead).
19. In 120 metres you pass another post with a yellow band, this time on your right-hand side. In 8 metres, ignore a path to the right (heading off at 150 degrees) and marked by a post with a yellow band, and keep on, your direction 50 degrees.
20. In 100 metres, at a minor path crossing, with a no horse riding post over to your left, [!] go right, your direction 100 degrees, slightly downhill. In 35 metres, at a T-junction, [!] go left, your direction 10 degrees, and immediately in 5 metres, [!] go right, on a narrow path, slightly downhill, your direction 120 degrees, in 5 metres passing on your left-hand side a no horse riding post.
21. Keep to this path, downhill, ignoring all ways off and following posts with yellow bands. In 315 metres, as the path curves sharply around to the left, going uphill, follow the narrower path curving off to your right, your direction 140 degrees initially.
22. Ignore ways off and, in 130 metres, you come to a T-junction near to the wood, and you turn left along the path as it follows the tree line, your direction 50 degrees initially.
23. [5] In 5 metres ignore a fork right. In a further 30 metres, turn right through the trees, with an open field visible ahead. This takes you out, around a wooden barrier, onto a car-wide earth track, where you turn left, gently uphill, with the edge of the wood on your left-hand side, and a new post and wire fence to the open field on your right, your direction 20 degrees.
24. In 175 metres the track levels out and opposite a metal farm gate, it swings left, then right, your direction now 45 degrees. In a further 100 metres, where the track swings left, keep ahead to go through a wooden barrier. Now turn right down the left-hand side of the field, your direction 120 degrees.
25. At the bottom of the field, in 300 metres, ignore the stile in the left-hand corner with a footpath going off to the left, and instead, turn right, your direction now 190 degrees. Continue along the bottom edge of the field for 40 metres and go through a gap in the hedge into the next field.
26. Continue along the left-hand edge of this field, your direction 175 degrees. In 150 degrees go through a field boundary and keep ahead on this grassy path, still following the left-hand edge of this field.
27. In 350 metres at the far left-hand corner of the field, turn left through a metal kissing gate, to follow the fenced-in path. In 150 metres you come out beside a metal fieldgate on to the corner of a residential street. Turn right up this street (Back Lane) and in 50 metres you come to a T-junction with the main road, at Three Households, where you turn left. (The White Hart pub is on your right at this junction).
28. Carry on down this road (Dean Way) into Chalfont St Giles. In 400 metres you pass the Milton’s Head pub on your left. 90 metres beyond this pub, on the other side of the road, is Milton’s Cottage – a museum well worth visiting if time permits. Keep on down Dean Way and in a further 250 metres you pass The Feathers pub on your left-hand side. Almost next door to it is The Crown pub. In a further 75 metres, on the other side of the road, across the Village Green, is Merlins Cave pub, your suggested lunchtime stop.
29. After lunch, coming out of Merlin’s Cave, turn left. Opposite the Crown pub, [!] turn left through the beamed archway, leading to the (sometimes locked) Parish Church of Chalfont St Giles. Follow the footpath which goes along the right-hand side of the lychgate, along metal railings bordering the churchyard, your direction 120 degrees.
30. The path swings right then left and in 130 metres brings you down to a dried-out riverbed, where there is a bridge with metal railings going over the riverbed. [!] 5 metres before this bridge, turn right and head half right on a path beside hoardings to a residential construction site on your right, your direction 230 degrees.
31.   In 70 metres this path swings left, away from the hoarding, your direction now 165 degrees initially, and continue ahead now between lines of trees.
32. In 125 metres go through a metal kissing gate and continue in the same direction as before, now with an open field on your right. In 250 metres go through another metal kissing gate and continue straight on.
33. The path leads out into an open field. You are now going to walk south for the next 1.5 km, through a series of five fields, keeping to the left-hand edge of each field in turn. This path generally follows the route taken by the River Misbourne before it dried up completely due to over-extraction of water from the valley.
34. In more detail: Follow the path along the field’s left-hand edge. In 80 metres ignore a stile on your left. In 275 metres, ignore a farm gate, then a stile and another farm gate on your left, but keep ahead close to the left-hand edge of this field. In 60 metres you come to a metal swing gate (off its hinges) in the far left-hand corner of the field and pass through, to continue along the left-hand edge of the next field.
35. On your right is now a new training track cum horse gallops, with a tarmac base covered at times with a sand bed, 3m wide, between new fences.
36. In 300 metres you pass a row of trees going uphill to your right, on the other side of the gallops. Continue on in the same direction along the left-hand edge of the field on a grassy path. In 200 metres cross a track with a metal farm gate to your left.
37. In 200 metres you come to the far left-hand corner of this field, to go through a gap into the next field, to continue ahead, with the left-hand edge of this field over to your left, following the gallops over to your right.  
38. In 250 metres ignore a stile on your left. In a further 100 metres go through a metal swing gate, then immediately a metal kissing gate, into the next field, to continue along the left-hand edge of this field, in the same direction as before.
39. In 70 metres pass through a metal kissing gate between a timber frame, and keep ahead, aiming for either of the two metal kissing gates, 40 metres apart, in the boundary ahead. In 125 metres pass through one of these gates: if you go through the right-hand kissing gate, ignore the metal swing gate 8 metres ahead, but bear left and take the well defined path ahead, between trees to left and right, your direction 190 degrees initially.
40. In 200 metres, the trees on the right peter out and the path is bordered by a wooden fence on your right-hand side. In another 130 metres go through a metal kissing gate into a lightly wooded area and, in 5 metres, the path ahead forks. [!] Take the right-hand fork which meanders past a tennis club on your left-hand side, your initial direction 200 degrees.   
41.   In 140 metres you come out from the lightly wooded area into playing fields. Continue along the right-hand edge of the playing fields on an indistinct path, passing a pavilion structure on your right. 50 metres past the pavilion [!] [6] turn right, up a fenced-in footpath between houses, your direction 250 degrees. 70 metres brings you up to a road. Go straight ahead uphill along Boundary Road.
42. In 200 metres, where the road becomes Lovel End, continue straight on up the hill. In 250 metres, having passed Chalfont St Peter First School on your right, Lovel End curves off to the left. Just before the cul-de-sac dead ahead, you turn right down a footpath, which goes between the school and the houses, your direction 345 degrees. This is signed as a public footpath and there is a “No cycling” sign.
43. In 70 metres the path swings left. In another 250 metres you come out to a main road. Go straight across this road into woods on the far side, and walk dead ahead through the trees into the grounds of Chalfont Grove.
44. In 30 metres the path forks [!] and you take the right–hand fork. Keep ahead, your direction 275 degrees, either on the narrow path which follows the chainlink fence on your right or along the broader track, 5 metres to its left: both ways eventually merge.
45. In 400 metres you come to a (fading) silver-painted metal fieldgate. Go through it and bear half left across the grass, your direction 300 degrees. In 80 metres you pass between two large lime trees whose lower branches look as though they’ve been filled up with twigs for some enormous bird’s nest.
46. In 100 metres pass through a gap in trees and in 20 metres follow the direction of the footpath post into the trees, your direction 305 degrees. In 110 metres cross over a stile and follow the white pointer on to the footpath heading to your left, your direction 265 degrees.
47. In 140 metres you come to a stile in the left-hand corner of the field. [7]. Go over this on to a surfaced track. At this point there is a short cut, which avoids a mile of road walking.

48. 1. Short Cut

       1. cross over the surfaced track and instead of turning left, go through the wooden kissing gate ahead. Keep ahead, passing a large electricity pylon immediately to your left, across a field in a westerly direction.
       2. Keep close to the right-hand boundary of this field and in 225 metres, head for a stile, part hidden, in the right-hand corner of this field. Go over this stile and keep ahead, now beside a wooden fence on your right, your direction 260 degrees, with a large field to your left.
       3. In 250 metres skirt left around trees and bushes and keep ahead. In 100 metres cross a stile and keep ahead, now along a fenced-in path, your direction 280 degrees.
       4. In 380 metres go through a wooden kissing gate and come out onto the road opposite Seer Green Lane, where you continue with the main route directions. (If you wish to visit the Friend’s Meeting House, turn left down the road, afterwards retracing your steps to this point).
        

    2. To continue on the main route

       1. turn left, due south, down this car-wide track, following the direction of overhead cables on your right-hand side.
       2. Continue down the car-wide track and in 450 metres you come out to a road, by the entrance to Grove Farm. Turn right along the road, your direction 285 degrees.
       3. In 500 metres you pass Welders House and Gate House on your left-hand side. 400 metres beyond that you come down almost to the end of the road, where on your right is the Friend’s Meeting House (well worth visiting).
       4. [8] After visiting the Meeting House, come out of its entrance, turn right around its front and turn right again, along the left-hand side of House, uphill into the Quaker Burial Ground, your direction 10 degrees. Walk through the burial ground and in 115 metres, you come to a new path diversion (as a result of the sale of the Guest House and Mayfair Barn to a private owner). Go through the wooden gate and turn left down the path, following the sign to Jordans Village, with a new high timber fence on your right. In 50 metres the path swings right and continues with the road below and parallel to you. In 85 metres the path ends and you pass through a wooden swing gate to come out on to the road.  
       5. Continue up the road and in 30 metres you pass the entrance to what was the Jordans Quaker Guest House and the entrance to the Mayflower Barn. Keep on up the road for about 100 metres until you reach the road junction with Seer Green Lane. Turn left down this Lane.
49. Go down Seer Green Lane, following the sign to Jordans Village.  
50. In 30 metres you pass a house called One Ash on your left. Keep ahead and ignore ways off. In 170 metres, at the end of the village green, where the road curves around to the right, continue straight on down the road dead ahead, your direction initially 300 degrees.
    • [!] Note: to visit Jordans’ Village Store and Post Office, bear right with the road at the end of the village green, down Green West Road for 80 metres – the store is on your left-hand side.  
51. Continuing with the main route: 170 metres down this road you come to a junction with Copse Lane [9]
    • [*] If you want to catch the train back from Seer Green & Jordans Station, turn left down the hill and follow the road for 650 metres for the railway station.
52. To continue the loop back to Beaconsfield, cross straight over on to a car-wide track going steeply downhill, dead ahead. 115 metres brings you to the bottom of the hill, where another path crosses your path. Continue straight on, following the public footpath sign, through the metal railings, on a path uphill, between hedges. Go through a second set of metal railings, and straight on as the path leads you through some trees.
53. Ignore ways off as you keep ahead, with woods on your left and fields over to your right. In 400 metres the path brings you out on to a car-wide track, with wooden gates leading into a courtyard on your right. Here turn left along this track, your direction 265 degrees initially. In 50 metres you pass the entrance to Hall Place on your left-hand side. 30 metres further on, you come out to the roadside in the village of Seer Green, opposite the Parish Church Hall. Turn left into School Lane, your direction 210 degrees.
54. In 150 metres you pass Stable Lane on your right. In 130 metres you walk past the entrance to Seer Green CE Combined School, which is on your right-hand side. 20 metres further on [!] [10] turn right off the road, your direction 215 degrees, down the footpath going to the left of Vicarage Close. In 180 metres, cross straight over a residential street, continuing on the footpath on the other side. 30 metres down the tarmac path going straight down the hill, [!] take the path going off to the right, your direction 245 degrees initially. 185 metres brings you down to the main road, alongside Weathering House on your right-hand side.
55.   Cross this busy road to go straight on, through a metal kissing gate, into trees, your direction 245 degrees, in 40 metres coming out on to a golf course. Follow the direction of the public footpath sign. (Note the warning about “flying golf balls”– keep watching the direction of play). Head out half right across the fairway, towards the green-and-white striped pole which marks the continuation of the footpath, your direction 225 degrees. When you reach this pole, go straight on towards the footpath sign dead ahead. In 70 metres follow the direction of this sign and turn right along the side of a fence which borders the railway on your left, your direction 310 degrees, along the left-hand edge of the golf course.
56. [11] In 500 metres you come to another public footpath sign, this time pointing left, and you follow the path left, over the bridge across the railway track. Over the bridge, there are three paths [!] and you take the rightmost path, which is signposted public footpath, your direction 250 degrees.
57. Walk straight across the golf course for the next 500 metres, following the directions and the green-and-white striped poles, at times going through trees.
58. At the edge of the golf course, go through a gap in a fence and out into a field. Go straight ahead across this field towards the far side on a distinct path, your direction 245 degrees. 400 metres brings you to the far side of the field and out on to the A355. Cross this busy road at the traffic island, slightly to your left, and go down Ronald Road, straight ahead. This leads into Fernhurst Close.
59. In 240 metres there is a parking area in the semicircle of houses on the right, and you continue straight on down the road. 90 metres brings you down to the bottom of Candlemas Mead, and you continue slightly left, your direction 280 degrees.
60. In 150 metres, the road curves sharply around to the left. (If you are interested in visiting the Old Town of Beaconsfield, follow the road around to the left, turn right at the first T-junction and left at the second one, which takes you on to the road linking the Old and New Towns.)
61. To go directly to the railway station, turn right here, pass through a metal barrier and go down the footpath which takes you between houses, your direction 10 degrees.  
62. In 80 metres you come out on to a road, which you cross over to walk straight ahead along the left-hand side of the green. 170 metres brings you to the bottom of Chesterton Green, where you turn left into Maxwell Road, your direction 280 degrees.
63. In 200 metres you pass Sainsbury’s on your left-hand side and Revolution (formerly Bar Med) on your right – a refreshments option.
64. In 100 metres you come to the road junction with Station Road, where you turn right. Pass two mini-roundabouts – Costa Coffee is between them on your left-hand side, and keep down Station Road, your direction 340 degrees. In 60 metres you pass The Cape café on your left-hand side.
65. Cross the railway bridge and turn right down the road to Beaconsfield Railway Station. The nearside platform, platform 1, is your platform for trains back to London.