Pete's Walks - Chenies and the Chess Valley (page 2 of 4)
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.
The path ran parallel to the river for a while, then curved to the left and approached a gate by a road on the edge of the village of Latimer. When I reached the gate, instead of going through it I turned very sharply left and followed a path gently uphill (NOTE: I could have shortened the walk by about 2 miles by simply going through the gate and continuing along the path starting on the other side of the road). At the top of the slope I went through two gates either side of a drive or track, then continued along the path. There was now a wire fence on my left and a hedge on the right, with attractive views ahead of me as I followed the hillside along this side of the Chess Valley. There was now a shower of rain as I soon passed close to Latimer House (sorry, Latimer Place) on my right. There used to be a noticeboard here about its history (apparently the early Victorian pile was built on the site of a much earlier manor house, then for over a hundred years it was the home of the National Defence College and is now a now a hotel and wedding venue) but I didn't see it today - though there was an information board about this part of the Chess Valley, one of a number of such boards I saw today that I think are due to a recent 'relaunching' of the Chess Valley Walk.
The path beside the River Chess at Latimer
The next path, almost doubling back from the gate
The path continuing on towards Latimer Place (formerly Latimer House)
Latimer Place (formerly Latimer House)
The path continuing on from Latimer Place (formerly Latimer House)
The path continuing on from Latimer Place
The rain shower was soon over. After several hundred yards, the path turned right for a short distance then turned left to continue along the hillside above the valley. There was now a wood on my right. After several hundred more yards the path started to descend slightly, then the path ended at a gate on the right. Through this gate I immediately turned right on a path through the wood (I think this was only the second or third time I'd walked this path). The path went through part of the wood, leaving it at a field corner where it went right and followed the edge of the wood (there was another brief shower at this point). After some distance the path started to run between fences and eventually emerged on an area of grass close to a small residential development. After a few yards there was a gap in the bushes on the left where the path ended on a lane where I turned right (I was now back on familiar territory, as I've often used a path a little further along the lane). I noticed a pond here, which I couldn't remember seeing before.
The path continuing on from Latimer Place
The path continuing on from Latimer Place
View across the Chess Valley
The path through the wood, after I turned very sharply right at a path junction
The same path continuing beside the wood
Further on along the same path
Pond, near where I joined the lane to Latimer
After a while I passed Latimer church on my right and a few yards further on I took a footpath on the left. This soon crossed a grassy paddock or part of a garden, then ran down a short alley to enter Latimer, having thus cut off a corner of the lane I'd been following. The triangular village green here has a pump, a Boer War memorial and a memorial marking where the heart of a horse belonging to a general killed in the war is buried. It also has a seat, where I sat and ate my lunch. I then carefully turned right at the bottom of the green and soon came to the gate (on the right) where I'd almost double-backed on myself earlier (NOTE: if I'd shortened the walk, as mentioned before, this is where I'd have continued). Again I did not go through the gate, but took the footpath on the other side of the road.
The lane to Latimer
Latimer church
The path to the centre of Latimer, after I turned left from the lane
The centre of Latimer (the route continues along the road going off to the right on the far side of the green)
The road at Latimer, after I turned right in the village centre