Pete's Walks- Southeast from Watlington Hill (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
UPDATE 30/10/2023: You now have to pay (£3 a day, I believe) at Watlington Hill car park, unless you are a National Trust member.
I did this roughly 10.5 mile circular walk on Tuesday, 1st April 2025. It was a repeat of a walk I first did in November 2013, but starting in Christmas Common rather than at Watlington Hill (as you now have to pay to park there). Most of this report is 'cut and paste' from the report of that walk.
Entering Christmas Common from the north, I took a road forking left and immediately parked on the right (Grid Reference SU 714933). I started walking about 10.35am, going the few yards back to the junction and turning right. Instead of going on past another road junction (where the route from Watlington Hill comes in) and then taking a path on the right, on the spur of the moment I immediately took a path on the right by the first junction. This ran between fences, with paddocks or meadows either side, turned right by some gardens, then turned left between gardens and joined a drive. Where the drive turned left, I turned right, now back on the original route. The path ran through Shotridge Wood, soon turning left. At a path T-junction I turned right, now in an area of beech trees with some hollows in the ground to my right. I soon came to another path junction where I turned left. I hadn't gone far down this path when I spotted about 20 Fallow deer down in the valley to my left (too far off to get a decent photo). The path descended very gently through the trees over a considerable distance. After about half a mile I went straight on where another path went right, and shortly after the path finally levelled out (the wood was now Blackmoor Wood).
The path from Christmas Common
The path through Shotridge Wood
The path through Shotridge Wood
The path through Shotridge Wood, just after turning left
Further along the same path
The same path, now in Blackmoor Wood
Further along the same path
Further along the same path
Further along the same path (just before I went straight on where a second path went right)
After following the path through the woods for over a mile, and shortly after going straight on where another path went right, the path ended at a drive in the Wormsley estate. Here I turned right for a few yards before taking a path on the other side of the drive. The path crossed a field which seemed to have pregnant sheep in it, then went over another drive before crossing a larger sheep pasture (it had sheep with lambs in it). Beyond this field, I turned right along a bridleway heading south through the Wormsley Valley. When this reached a drive, I turned sharp left and took a path across a field to reach Hale Wood. The path continued through this beech wood, then rose across a narrow grass strip to reach Great Wood.
The first field after the first drive on the Wormsley estate
The second field after crossing another drive on the Wormsley estate
The bridleway going south through the Wormsley valley
The path going east to Hale Wood
Hale Wood
The path continuing from Hale Wood to Great Wood
The path rose uphill through Great Wood, turning half-right to go up the slope at an angle before turning left to go straight uphill for a few very steep yards before turning left again and levelling out near the top of the hill - as usual, I found this hill quite tough. After a hundred yards or so, the path turned right to reach the top of the hill, before leaving the wood and crossing a meadow (with a good view to the right). It then ran between gardens and down a driveway to reach a lane in Ibstone, opposite Hell Corner Farm.
The steep path up through Great Wood
The steep path up through Great Wood
The path up through Great Wood, after it turns left and levels out
The path continuing from Great Wood to the lane at Ibstone