# 🥾 Walk 311 - Hartley Wintney and West Green

On Sunday 17th December, fifteen of us (including members of the Berkshire Walkers 20s & 30s group and a visitor, trying out the Ramblers) met up in Hartley Wintney for an eight-mile walk.

This was a new walk devised and led by Denise, which follows the Brenda Parker Way for part of its route. You may have noticed a theme running through several of our recent walks, which have included other sections of this long-distance path.

The weather was a but dull but dry as we headed north-west through woodland from Hartley Wintney to Hazeley Heath, where the terrain became a mixture of woodland and open heath.

![Heading north-west, from Hartley Wintney toward Hazeley Heath.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume22/images/hartley_wintney.jpg)

Crossing the B3011, we made our way out of Hazeley Heath and followed a route through farmland to the hamlet of Dipley. Here we took a little detour to see Dipley Mill, now a country house but formerly a flour mill on the River Whitewater and old enough to be listed in the Doomsday Book.

A combination of footpaths and quiet lanes brought us to West Green, just as the rain began to fall. Stopping in woodland outside West Green House, we put on waterproofs and found logs to sit on while we had our lunch. A few of us popped into the gift shop at West Green House, which was holding a mini Christmas Fair, while others checked their mobile phones for the latest weather forecast.

A straw poll was taken and a majority decision was made to take a shorter route back to Hartley Wintney, as the forecast was for the rain to get heavier later. Two of the group, who knew the area well and had good waterproofs, decided to follow the originally intended route and set off along the Brenda Parker Way to Winchfield. The rest of us took a much more direct route back to the car park. See our route on Google Maps.

![Posing for a group photo by the mill at Dipley Bridge.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume22/images/dipley_bridge.jpg)

This change of plan meant that we missed out the Brenda Parker Way altogether, but Denise said she will lead this walk in full at a future date. Cutting it short proved to be a good idea, despite the rain easing up as we reached the car park, it got much heavier soon after.

![Leaving West Green in the rain.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume22/images/west_green_rain.jpg)

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