This lovely walk combes quiet lanes and woodland paths. It is not very long and mainly level so get out of that armchair and enjoy our superb countryside you really have no excuse.

Fact file

Distance: 3 miles

Map: OS Explorer 181 Chiltern Hills North.

Start: Great Hampden Village Hall and cricket pitch. Grid reference 846014.

How to get there: Take Hughenden Road (A4128) from High Wycombe. When this turns right to Prestwood, continue ahead through Hughenden Valley for about a mile. Turn right along Warrendene Road for a quarter of a mile then left on Bryants Bottom Road. Follow this for 21/4 miles. Turn right at a crossroads, signed 'Hampden 3/4 Great Missenden 4'. Turn right at a T-junction then take the first road on the right, just before the Hampden Arms. Park near the village hall on the left.

Refreshments: The Hampden Arms (01494) 488255 is very close to the end of the walk or, of course, you could visit it first. It has been a pub since 1915 and the fist licensee was the Earl of Buckingham. He didn't run it himself, of course. It was managed by the People's Temperance Society - the mind boggles! They offer a wide selection of full meals as well as light lunches such as a cheese and apple salad, ploughman's lunch and cottage pie. Last orders for lunch are at 2pm.

Historical Facts

Great Hampden is the ancestral home of the Hampden family since before the Norman Conquest. They had a long tradition of service to the Crown and provided Members of Parliament, High Sheriffs and courtiers throughout the centuries. The most famous of them was the John Hampden who opposed Charles I's arbitrary government and died in battle in the Civil War. After 24 generations as lords of the manor, the family became extinct in the male line in 1754 and the estate was left to a cousin, who took the name Hampden. The last member of the family to live in the ancestral home organised the laying of the immaculately maintained cricket pitch in 1950. When he died his memorial was an extension to the village hall incorporating committee room, entrance and pavilion.

The Walk

1 With your back to the cricket pitch, turn right along the lane. Follow it round to the right, signed "Bryants Bottom 1" at a junction.

2 Some 200 yards after the corner take a signed path on the right, through a small gate. Continue ahead after a cross path after about 200 yards and follow the path through to emerge on a road near a crossroads.

3 Turn right then take a signed bridleway on the left at the crossroads. This soon splits into parallel horse and walkers' paths. Take the walkers' path to the right of a wire fence. Ignore a permitted path on the right and carry on until the path approaches the edge of the wood.

4 Some 25 yards before the edge of the wood turn sharp right back into the wood, following white arrow way marks on the trees. The start of the path is not very obvious. If you reach the edge of the wood, you have gone past the turning. Continue ahead as a track joins from the left. After a further 200 yards, as the track bears left, bear right, still following the white arrows. Cross an open ride and ignore a permitted path on the right.

5 The path eventually reaches a surfaced track. Turn right along this to a road.

6 Turn right a few yards to a junction then take a signed path starting over a stile. Continue over the first cross track.

7 At the second cross track turn left to a road. Turn right along the road. Follow the road round to the left at a junction. At the Hampden Arms turn right back to the start.

Written by Jean Patefield