Pete's Walks - Christmas Common, Ibstone, Cookley Green (page 2 of 7)
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.
Over the stile the path climbed steeply through the trees for a short distance until it ended at a junction with a bridleway. Here I turned right, following the bridleway more gently uphill through more of Commonhill Wood for several hundred yards. On leaving the wood, the now level path ran a short way between hedges to a gate, beyond which I turned right. immediately leaving the wooded section of Ibstone Common for the larger grassy part. I followed a path along the edge of the common, close to a hedgerow on the right, then forked slightly left along a path aiming towards the left end of some trees and bushes. On getting there, I crossed a drive and continued along the right edge of the common as it curved left, the path then running through some bushes to where a drive reached Green Lane. I turned right along the lane, but only for a short distance until a path started down a drive on the right, opposite the intriguingly named Hell Corner Farm.
The path continuing steeply (much more than this looks!) up into Commonhill Wood
The bridleway after I turned right in Commonhill Wood, heading up to Ibstone Common
The bridleway in Commonhill Wood, heading up to Ibstone Common
Ibstone Common
Ibstone Common
Ibstone Common, after I crossed the drive
The start of the path from opposite Hell Corner Farm
The path went a few yards along the drive and then continued between garden hedges. It carried straight on across a large meadow or pasture, to join a tall hedge of trees on my left, which it followed into a corner of the field where I entered Great Wood. The path soon met a clearer path where it turned left (there was no right of way to the right). This soon turned sharply right and headed downhill at an angle to the slope. On reaching a cleared entry there were glimpses of views along or across the Wormsley Valley. The path then turned left and continued to the bottom of the wood. I then followed a fence on my left a short way along the edge of a huge sheep pasture (looking right, I could see where I'd earlier followed the fence on the opposite side of the pasture up to Commonhill Wood) to reach Hale Wood. I followed the path through Hale Wood, almost missing the white arrow indicating where the path turned right from a track, and emerged the other side into the Poppy field I'd seen earlier.
The path heading to Great Wood
Approaching Great Wood
The path continuing through Great Wood
The path continuing through Great Wood
The path continuing through Great Wood, descending back into the Wormsley Valley
The path continuing through Great Wood
Approaching the edge of through Great Wood
The path continuing from Great Wood to Hale Wood
View right from between Great Wood and Hale Wood. The intermittent hedge is along the path I took earlier up to Commonhill Wood
Hale Wood