Pete's Walks - Maidensgrove Common, Watlington Hill, Northend (page 1 of 5)
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.
I did this circular walk of about 10.5 miles on Friday, 31st July, 2026. It was a repeat of a walk I did in January 2024
I parked beside the lane that leaves Maidensgrove and crosses Maidensgrove Common (grid reference SU 717886) and started walking about 10:15am. I followed the lane across the common (with the largest part of the common on my right) and continued alongside it after it turned right along the edge of the common. One or two hundred yards after passing the Five Horseshoes pub (on the left, after several hundred yards) I took a footpath on the left. This passed a property on my left, then ran between hedges for a while before passing a pasture on the left. It then dropped down a few steps, went through a gate and turned right. After a short distance, it turned left and dropped very steeply downhill between a fence and a hedge on my right, with an attractive view of woods and rolling hills ahead of me.
The lane crossing Maidensgrove Common
Maidensgrove Common
The path alongside the lane on Maidensgrove Common
The Five Horseshoes pub, Maidensgrove
The path after I turned left from the lane
Further along the path
Further along the path, after it turns right
The same path now dropping very steeply into a valley
Further along the path
In the valley bottom I turned right along a long bridleway that would take me to Cookley Green. I went straight on along the valley when another bridleway went off to the left (towards Park Corner), and a little further along again went straight on when a bridleway went off to the right (to Russell's Water). After following the bridleway for a little over a mile, it brought me to Cookley Green.
The bridleway to Cookley Green, after I turned right in the valley
The bridleway to Cookley Green (where another bridleway goes left to Park Corner)
The bridleway to Cookley Green (where another bridleway goes right to Russell's Water)
The bridleway to Cookley Green
The bridleway entering Cookley Green