Wormsley Park with Dad

I was down south visiting the parents and took the opportunity of some good weather to go for a walk with Dad.  Unfortunately his walking partner had cancelled on him and so they were not able to do their next section of The Ridgeway Long Distance Path.  This did however give us an opportunity to get out together.
After a quick scan of the map I worked out a rough route in the Chilterns, starting near Stokenchurch which is only about half an hour from home. We drove to Cowleaze Wood which is a Forestry Commission pick nick site and formerly a sculpture trail.  I believe all the sculptures have now been sold off, which would explain why we didn’t see any!

It was a beautiful sunny day, and allowed the woods to look at their best as we followed the clear but seemingly under-used path through the trees.

Exiting the woods, signs informed us to keep to the footpath as we were entering the Wormsely Estate. Walking down the field (were they appeared to be effectively growing nothing more than chalk)  we could see down in to the valley and the next section of our route.


Reaching the valley bottom we passed by Lower Vicar’s Farm.  A delightful and doubtless pricey cluster of old buildings.


Climbing the other side of the valley we were back into woodland again.  It was noticeably quiet, with very little sound other than the distant rumble of the M40, the birds and ourselves.  What we did notice was some movement up ahead, which I thought at first was a bird, but quickly realized was a deer.

Surprisingly the deer had not detected us, probably as there was no wind to carry our scent and we were in the shade of the woods, where as the dear was probably dazzled by the sun in the clearing.  However the click of the camera on taking the photo, had the dear immediately startled and running for cover.  As it did do it let out what can only be described as a bark, something that I’ve never heard before. Looking at the British Deer Society website, I think it was probably a young Fallow Deer.
Shortly we were heading South along a bridleway, passing within sight of Wormsley Park itself and it’s cricket ground.  After a few minutes correcting a wrong turn we  joined the Chiltern Way, but left it after about half a mile to make our way towards Christmas Common.

Here we stopped at the Fox &  Hounds which seemed to be a decent, but small Brakespears pub.  The size was not an issue however as we sat outside in the sunshine and had some lunch.
Annoyingly, to avoid walking on the road, we now had to follow the Oxfordshire Way downhill, only to re-gain out height by ascending Shirburn Hill.  However this gave us an opportunity for some great views out over the Oxfordshire plain.


Though I am very lucky to live so close to both the Forest of Bowland and the Lake District National Park, coming home does remind me how special the Chilterns are. Although of a very different character to either of the above places, their solitude and beauty does make them, in a sense, quite wild as well.