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A Circular Walk
from the cricket club Distance 6.5 miles See the map of this walk. 1. Start at the Cricket Club car park on Cholesbury Common. Turn left and walk along the edge of the pitch and cross the road near the pond and take the bridle path that passes to the right of Common Ley. 2. The path emerges close to the bend at the bottom of Ray's Hill. Turn right and cross the stile and pass to the left of a large barn before crossing a second stile. Go straight ahead over the next field and cross a further stile. Keep the fence on your right. Head along the path at the field edge and cross two further stiles. The fence becomes a hedge at this point but the path continues in a straight line until it reaches a small plantation. 3. Turn left onto a path joining from the right and head uphill as the path traverses the field and noticeably veers away from the edge of the copse. The path reaches Oak Lane just beyond a pair of semi-detached houses. Turn right and head towards the gate ahead of you at the point where the Road turns 90 degrees to the right. Cross into the wood by the gate and after a few metres pick up the path which heads off straight as the track bends to the left. Follow this path as it traverses the wood and takes you to a stile. 4. Bear right out of the wood along the path which passes along a field edge with Dundridge Manor to your left. The path meets a farm road where you turn left and follow for a short distance until a footpath leads off to your right almost opposite the drawbridge of the Manor. The path now enters a narrow field by a stile and exits via a further stile leading to a more open field and beyond passes through a gap in the hedge. 5. This is St Leonards Playing Fields with the Parish Hall on your right. Cross the field heading for the stile which takes you to a small field where a path joins yours from the right at the point where a stile takes you to a further field and bearing slightly left you head for the corner where beyond the boundary wall marking the edge of St Leonards Graveyard is a track which meets the road almost at a 'T' junction. 6. Directly opposite is a stile into a field called St Leonards Common denoting its origin prior to its enclosure. The path heads diagonally across the field and crossing a stile you come out onto a road. Bear left and after about 50 yards you will see a road heading off on the right by Leylands Farm. This road follows the line of Grim's Ditch and the North-west boundary of the Parish. Continue along this road until you reach a footpath crossing the road where you should turn right and follow a fence line on your right until you reach Buckland Wood. 7. The path goes directly across the wood and you should ignore a path joining from your left and when your path slits into two take the left path. At the edge of the wood cross a stile into a field and head for a stile on the far side. Follow the fence line on your right until your reach a further stile which brings you out onto a farm track. Turn left along this track until it reaches Little Twye Road beside a block of Rothchilds cottages by of same name. Turn left here and soon after the road becomes a track and after passing by a field on your right enters Drayton Wood. Cross the stile immediately on the right. 8. The path meanders back and forth but always keep heading directly ahead ignoring the odd path to your left and right whilst crossing a couple of further stiles still within the wood until bearing to your right and ignoring paths to left and right you cross via a stile into a narrowly wooded area passing alongside the short side of a long field used as a paddock. This leads to a further short stretch of wooded path entered and exited over a stile. 9. You enter an overgrown area of tree saplings and scrub before reaching the edge of Cholesbury Camp. Take either the path directly across the filed ahead of you or as a short diversion turn left and follow the path running between and then upon the mounds which denote the ramparts of the Iron Age Hill Fort. Either route will bring you to a stile across from where you entered the Camp and following the track and after passing through a gateway you find yourself by the side of Cholesbury Village Hall. Turn left and walk along the Common cross by the road junction and a little beyond this rest your weary feet on the six sided bench by the car park.
Chris Brown |