Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove and Turville Heath (page 1 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.
Google map of the walkDownload GPX file of the walk
I did this walk of about 8.9 miles on Saturday, 29th April 2023. It was a repeat of a route I first walked in December 2017. This report is largely 'cut and paste' from the report I wrote then (I'm getting even lazier in my old age!).
This was a beautiful Spring day, and I was looking forward to seeing lots of wildflowers on my walk. I parked on Maidensgrove Common where the lane crosses it (grid reference SU 717886), and started walking about 9.55am, following the lane into Maidensgrove (so the largest part of the common was to my left). I soon spotted some Cuckoo-flower growing on the common. Where a lane came in on the right, I took a private road or drive on the left, immediately passing a pond in a corner of the common on my left. At the end of the drive a footpath continued a few yards into Pishillbury Wood to reach a bridleway, where I turned left (there was a strong smell of garlic here, as there was a large amount of Wild Garlic, though none was yet in flower). The bridleway continued through the wood, and after a few hundred yards dropped quite steeply downhill. It left the wood near the bottom of the slope, continuing beside a hedgerow on my right and soon rising up the other side of the valley. It then joined a drive and then a lane to reach Pishill Church (where I spotted some Wild Garlic that was in flower).
Maidensgrove Common
The private road or drive at Maidensgrove
The bridleway through Pishillbury Wood
The bridleway through Pishillbury Wood
The bridleway through Pishillbury Wood
The bridleway continuing from Pishillbury Wood, heading to Pishill
The bridleway continuing from Pishillbury Wood, heading to Pishill
The lane near Pishill church
Pishill church
I continued to the end of the lane, then turned right along a minor road. Where this soon turned right, I took a footpath going left. This was soon following a fence line along the bottom of a valley, and after a few hundred yards reached College Wood (where I spotted my first Greater Stitchwort of 2023). Almost as soon as the path entered the wood, it turned half right to gradually rise up that side of the valley. Towards the top of the slope, the path turned right and steepened for a few yards, before turning left, now close to the edge of the wood over to my right. Eventually I came to a path junction and a gate at the edge of the wood.
The end of the lane at Pishill
The path to College Wood
Approaching College Wood
The path through College Wood
The path through College Wood
The path through College Wood
The path junction just before leaving College Wood