Pete's Walks- Christmas Common, Turville, Cadmore End (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.
Google map (this walk started at Christmas Common instead of Watlington Hill, and follow 'Alternative 1' on the map)
The path carried on along a farm track for a few hundred yards. I then left the track at a path junction, going through a kissing-gate on the left and following a path across a corner of a pasture (there were isolated trees in it, as if it was the parkland around a grand house). The path then went through a gate into a smaller pasture or paddock and on the other side of this it went through another gate and crossed a meadow next to the lawn of a house, then followed the drive from the house a few yards to reach a road junction at Turville Heath. I crossed a minor road and went straight on down a lane, soon reaching a small parking area on the left. Immediately past this I turned left along a drive through the wooded heath to reach the grand house of Turville Grange (once the home of Lee Radziwill, sister of Jacqueline Kennedy).
The path continuing towards Turville Heath
The path continuing towards Turville Heath
The path continuing towards Turville Heath
The path continuing towards Turville Heath, after I took the path forking left
The path continuing towards Turville Heath
The path continuing towards Turville Heath
The drive on Turville Heath, heading to a large house called Turville Grange
I went a few yards right and took a footpath that ran through the grounds of Turville Grange, initially between a garden hedge and a wall on my right. Immediately after passing a paddock or enclosure on my left, I went over a stile and turned left through a huge pasture. Where the enclosure on my left ended, I just walked straight on to go over the brow of a hill, when I could then see where the path entered Idlecombe Wood - there was a pleasant view towards Cobstone Mill over to the right. After entering the wood the path soon started to drop more steeply downhill.
The start of the path to Idlecombe Wood (after I turned left just past Turville Grange)
The path continuing to Idlecombe Wood
View from the path to Idlecombe Wood
Idlecombe Wood
After a while the path turned right, and started to contour along the hillside, still in Idlecombe Wood and with an attractive valley now on my left - this section is one of my favourite paths in the Chilterns. The path isn't completely flat, but there is very little rise or fall, and the occasional views out over the valley are very pleasant.
The path after it turns right to contour through Idlecombe Wood
The contouring path through Idlecombe Wood
The contouring path through Idlecombe Wood
The contouring path through Idlecombe Wood
The contouring path through Idlecombe Wood