Time Out Country Walks near London Volume 1

Walk 45 : Princes Risborough to Great Missenden

The Chilterns, a windmill & Bryant's Bottom

Length 16km (10 miles), 4 hours 30 minutes. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow 8 hours.
OS Landranger Map No.165. Princes Risborough, map reference SP 799 027, is in Buckinghamshire, 11km south of Aylesbury.
Toughness 6 out of 10.
Features This walk across the Chilterns – the walker's heaven – is through sloping fields and beech woods and hamlets, past upmarket farms and upgraded cottages. It has two short steep hills (with fine views) near the lunch stop; the walk directions offer an alternative route avoiding the first of these. Small sections of the route can be muddy in wet weather, particularly before the lunch stop.
Shortening the Walk You could order a taxi from the suggested lunchtime stop, the Gate pub in Bryant's Bottom (after 10km of walking) or from the Polecat Inn 2.5km further on. Both places may also have rare buses on weekdays (for information see TraveLine or call 0871 200 2233).
History Princes Risborough derives its name from the Black Prince who is said to have been lord of the manor there in 1343.

Lacey Green Windmill is the oldest smock mill in the country, built in 1650 and moved to this site in 1821. It was in use until 1918, milling corn, wheat, oats and barley. It is open for internal viewing from 2.30pm to 5.30pm, only on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from May to September.

The popular children's writer Roald Dahl lived and worked in Great Missenden for 36 years and the Roald Dahl Museum (tel 01494 892 192) at 81-83 High Street aims to inspire a love of stories and creative writing; it is open until 5pm, but is closed on most Mondays.

Saturday Walkers Club Take the train nearest to 10.15am (before or after) from Marylebone Station to Princes Risborough. Trains back from Great Missenden run twice an hour. Journey time about 45 minutes on the way out, the same for the return.
Lunch The suggested lunchtime stop is the Gate pub (tel 01494 488 632) in Bryant's Bottom, which has an aviary in its garden. Note that the bulk of the walk is before lunch, so allow time. The pub serves food until 2.30pm Monday to Saturday, till 3pm Sunday.
Tea There are several pubs in Great Missenden's High Street, starting with the George Inn (tel 01494 868 455). A popular alternative is Café Twit at the Roald Dahl Museum (see above). Tea and snacks are sometimes available on the station platform.
Travel by Train
  • Out:
  • Back:
Travel by Car

Start: Princes Risborough Station is near : HP27 9DD [gmap]

Finish: Great Missenden Station is near : HP16 9AY [gmap]

Return to your car by train:

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

181 : Chiltern Hills North [Amazon]
Revised

This walk was fully revised in : Feb-09

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

Walking Instructions

  1. Turn left out of Princes Risborough station and, in 65m, veer right with this road.
  2. In 90m, turn right at the T-junction into Station Road.
  3. In 90m, take the second right, Poppy Road (the B4444).
  4. In 100m, after the Poppyseed pub, turn half right onto the A4010.
  5. In 160m, turn left up the "Upper Icknield Way", a tarmac lane (60°).
  6. After 100m, ignore a right turn by a power line and a left turn 20m after it.
  7. In 300m, turn right at a 4-armed footpath sign through a metal kissing gate (150°).
  8. In 800m, cross two stiles at the top and bottom of a slope.
  9. In 300m, cross a tarmac drive and pass two redundant stiles.
  10. In 50m, go over a stile on your left to go straight on at right angles to the telephone cables.
  11. In 100m, cross a stile in the hedge ahead.
  12. In 100m, pass a redundant stile to come to a road junction and follow "Woodway" uphill into "Loosley Row" Village.
  13. In 300m, ignore the right fork to Saunderton.
  14. In 300m, after the Whip Inn and after ignoring a path to the nearby windmill, turn left on a path beside a bus shelter (65°) with a hedge on your left.
  15. In 80m, cross a stile.
  16. In 150m, cross another stile and soon leave the hedge to head across an open field towards another stile.
  17. In 150m, cross this stile and bear half right to the far right hand corner of the field (70°).
  18. In 150m, cross a stile then immediately cross a path to carry on in the same direction between fences, towards power cables (40°).
  19. In 30m, cross a path to bear slightly right towards a pylon.
  20. In 100m, cross a stile to go under the power cables and follow a field hedge on the left.
  21. In 300m, turn right to follow the hedge at the end of the field (100°).
  22. In 100m, cross a stile to your left and follow an arrow and clear path (80°).
  23. In 160m, cross a stile and turn left to follow a wooded bridleway (25°).
  24. In 100m, reach a car lane and turn left.
  25. In 15m, turn right onto a "Public Bridleway" (60°).
  26. In 50m, turn half right by the first of two footpath signs to pass a wooden barrier and follow the edge of Monkton Wood.
  27. In 1km, go straight on at a major path crossing.
  28. In 500m, go through a wooden swing gate to pass "Cedar Cottage" on your right.
  29. In 80m, cross a road "Coleheath Bottom" to continue on a signposted bridleway.
  30. In 500m, pass "Ringwood House" on the right and then, 30m before a T-junction, turn left on a signposted footpath uphill into woods (50°).
  31. In 300m, reach a road and turn left by "Spring Coppice Farm".
  32. In 125m, go through a kissing gate on your right to join a signposted footpath (85°).
  33. In 130m, go through a kissing gate after passing between two copses of trees to follow a fence on your left.
  34. In 100m, 5m after passing pylons, cross a stile to enter a private garden, passing to the right of the house, "Balnakeil", to reach a road in 50m.
  35. Ignoring a short cut to the pub, 1km along the road to your right, cross the road and enter the wood by a stile, climbing steeply.
  36. In 100m, cross a stile to carry on uphill.
  37. In 150m, cross another stile and turn right on an earth track (160°).
  38. In 100m, pass "Denner Farm" and cross a stile.
  39. In 200m, go through a gate to the right of a field gate to follow a bramble hedge on your left.
  40. In 150m, before reaching the end of the field, exit the field by a gate on your left and head towards the footpath sign (105°).
  41. In 80m, pass through a metal kissing gate to turn right and then take the right fork, a "Public Bridleway", past a shed on the left (170°).
  42. In 300m, pass a flint house on your right and turn right down its far wall, steeply downhill (250°) to reach the "Gate Inn" in Bryant's Bottom, the lunch stop.
  43. Turn left out of the pub, along a road.
  44. In 250m, reach a footpath sign on your left and cross a stile to the right of a field gate to bear half right up the slope as indicated by the footpath sign (105°).
  45. In 200m, cross a stile and continue.
  46. In 50m, cross a stile to leave the field and turn right on a car lane (135°).
  47. In 50m, go through metal gates - "Private - Denner Hill House" - to bend to the left and pass "Hughenden Chase", a substantial house on the right.
  48. 50m past its main gates, turn left over a stile, as indicated by a footpath sign, but then turn immediately right downhill, parallel to the drive, with the fence on the right (80°), ignoring the footpath sign's direction.
  49. In 100m, cross a stile in the field corner to carry on downhill.
  50. In 100m, veer left, following the hedges, towards the hamlet.
  51. In 120m, at the bottom, under pylons, cross a stile to turn right on a car road (Prestwood Local Nature Reserve is 50m along the road to the left).
  52. In 20m, turn left onto Perks Lane.
  53. In 600m, past White Lodge, follow the footpath sign to cross a stile on the left and bear half left uphill following the direction of the footpath sign (70°).
  54. In 300m, leave the top left hand corner of the field by a stile 20m to the left of a telegraph pole in the hedge.
  55. In 100m, go through a gate to reach the "Polecat Inn" on your right and turn right on the A4128.
  56. In 30m, cross the road and a stile to follow a signposted footpath between fences and hedges.
  57. In 250m, go over a stile and slightly left into the wood.
  58. In 20m, turn left onto a wider bridleway.
  59. In 70m, merge with a track from the right.
  60. In 60m, pass a deep crater and continue to follow the left hand edge of the wood. Note: the original route cut through the wood on the right here, but this footpath is no longer visible on the ground. The new route is slightly longer but much easier to follow.
  61. In 400m, with an open field ahead, turn sharp right at a path junction to follow a path with the wood to your right and a fence and the open field to your left.
  62. In 300m, leave the wood on an earth driveway beside a footpath sign to pass "Woodcot", the end of a row of houses, on your right (35°).
  63. In 200m, turn right on a road.
  64. In 15m, turn left on a signposted footpath.
  65. In 10m, go through a gate to the left of a field gate to continue on a clear path on flat, open fields (45°).
  66. In 450m, enter a wood and follow its right hand edge.
  67. In 300m, go through a kissing gate and turn left uphill (60°).
  68. In 100m, ignore a kissing gate and a further gate in 15m to continue straight on, passing plantations of trees.
  69. In 300m, pass "Angling Spring Farm", a modern house in timber and red brick on your left.
  70. In 25m, fork left on an earth path (320°).
  71. In 35m, fork right downhill to follow a footpath arrow on a post past a "Chiltern District Council" sign (5°).
  72. In 200m, having remained on the edge of the wood, reach the bottom of the hill and cross a stile to take the earth lane towards Great Missenden, due east.
  73. In 400m, cross a stile and pass a cemetery on your right.
  74. At the T-junction, turn right on an earth road (65°).
  75. In 30m, turn left on a tarmac path under a railway arch.
  76. Carry straight on along a gravel drive between houses to a T-junction, opposite the car park of the George Inn, where you turn left.
  77. In 30m, turn right on a tarmac path between walls to arrive at the George Inn, the suggested tea place.
  78. Coming out of the George Inn, turn left along the High Street and, in 350m, left on Station Approach, to reach Great Missenden station in 80m.