Pete's Walks- Maidensgrove Common and Henley (page 2 of 6)
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.
As I approached some buildings in the hamlet of lower Highmoor I turned left off the drive onto a crossing bridleway. I passed a cottage on my right, with what I presume is the parkland of Merrimoles over a fence on my left. The bridleway then entered a large wood called Holly Grove. After about a quarter of a mile I went straight on where a footpath crossed (the route I originally followed in March 2011 came in from the left here). I seemed to reach the next path junction sooner than I expected, and I almost walked past it before realising it was where I needed to turn right. Almost as soon as I started down this path I spotted about a dozen Fallow deer running across the path a short way ahead of me. I almost missed the next junction as well, after about a quarter of a mile, where I needed to turn left ( I totally mis-remembered this junction, it wasn't at all how I thought it was going to be, so I must be confusing it with somewhere quite different).
The bridleway from Lower Highmoor to Holly Grove
Holly Grove
Holly Grove (in places Rhododendron Wood would be more apt, but it's not as bad as it used to be)
Holly Grove
The path started through some Rhododendron bushes, then after a couple of hundred yards or so turned right (this was like a T-junction, but the path coming in on the left is not a public right of way). I now entered a section of tall conifers (still in Holly Grove, I think) and after a hundred yards or so I turned left onto another path which soon brought me to the edge of the wood. I then took the rightmost of two paths across a field, which brought me to Rocky Lane.
Immediately after turning right in Holly Grove
The path after I turned left in Holly Grove
The path after I turned right the second time in Holly Grove
Approaching the edge of Holly Grove, after turning left the second time
I took the rightmost of these paths from Holly Grove, to reach Rocky Lane
Across the lane I followed a path through Padnell's Wood. When I came to a path crossroads I turned left, soon leaving the wood and following a fence on my right through a field or paddock. The path continued through another small wood, then crossed part of an empty pasture before following the right edge of another large field or pasture. A few yards beyond the far corner of this field I reached the hamlet of Shepherd's Green.
Padnell's Wood
The path from Padnell's Wood to Shepherd's Green
The path from Padnell's Wood to Shepherd's Green
The path from Padnell's Wood to Shepherd's Green
The path from Padnell's Wood to Shepherd's Green
Shepherd's Green