{"id":"6984793a533dbb4b7311872a","title":"Walk 532 Hurley And Burchett S Green","path":"walks/scrapbook/by-year/2022/volume-41-jul-to-sep-2022/walk-532-hurley-and-burchett-s-green","contentMarkdown":"# 🥾 Walk 532 - Hurley and Burchett's Green\n\nEleven of us met up in Hurley village car park on Sunday 31st July for an 8 mile walk that would include Ashley Hill, Burchett's Green and a bit of the Thames Path. The day was warm and humid, but with a pleasant breeze.\n\nThe walk started by joining the Thames Path heading west out of Hurley. This we followed until we reached Frogmill Farm, where we turned south and began a gentle but prolonged ascent along a deep, trench-like path. We branched off onto the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit where a much flatter forestry path took us south-east through mixed woodland.\n\nThe last of the uphill stretch became much steeper as we reached the top of Ashley Hill. Now a gentle downhill stretch brought us out of the woodland on the Chiltern Way and onto land owned by the Berkshire College of Agriculture. This took us to the village of Birchett's Green.\n\n![Part of the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit near Ashley Hill.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume41/images/knowl_hill_bridal_circuit.jpg)\n\nTurning north-west, we headed across fields into the grounds of the Berkshire College of Agriculture, passing the grandiose Hall Place before weaving our way through the more functional looking complex of buildings that make up most of the college.\n\nOn previous walks through the college, we were able to see their menagerie of exotic animals, but these are now inaccessible to the public unless you pay to visit their zoo. I suppose the college needs to make a bit of extra money this way to help support itself. We followed the prescribed route through the college.\n\nWe headed north up to the High Wood on top of Prospect Hill. Some way along a footpath there was a large picnic table overlooking the land to the north of the hill, with views of Hurley and Danesfield House on the other side of the river. The table wasn't quite large enough for all eleven of us to sit around, so some of us found some fallen branches to sit on while we had our picnic lunch.\n\n![Part of the Chiltern Way near Burchett's Green.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume41/images/chiltern_way_burchetts_green.jpg)\n\nAfter lunch, we descended the short but steep footpath down to Hurley. Following the road into the village, we took a footpath to the east and joined the Thames Path at Hurleyford Park. We followed the river to Hurley Lock. The path crossed part of the river on a large footbridge to an island that separates the lock and the weir.\n\nThere is a tea shop by the lock, which also sells ice creams. Ice cream seemed very desirable at this stage in the walk as we'd covered seven and a half miles by now and the day was heating up. They were closed! Sue, our walk leader, had included an ice cream stop in her walk description, so there were a few disappointed faces.\n\nCrossing back on another footbridge, we were soon back in Hurley village, where we'd started. See our route on Google Maps. Luckily, the village shop had an excellent selection of ice creams on offer, so Sue's reputation was saved.\n\n![A picnic table at the edge of High Wood on Prospect Hill.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume41/images/high_wood_picnic_table.jpg)\n\n![The approach to Hurley Lock on the River Thames.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume41/images/hurley_lock_approach.jpg)\n\n*Thank you to Sue for leading this walk.*\n\n## 📸 Back to Volume 41\n\nReturn to volume index","contentHtml":"

🥾 Walk 532 - Hurley and Burchett's Green

\n

Eleven of us met up in Hurley village car park on Sunday 31st July for an 8 mile walk that would include Ashley Hill, Burchett's Green and a bit of the Thames Path. The day was warm and humid, but with a pleasant breeze.

\n

The walk started by joining the Thames Path heading west out of Hurley. This we followed until we reached Frogmill Farm, where we turned south and began a gentle but prolonged ascent along a deep, trench-like path. We branched off onto the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit where a much flatter forestry path took us south-east through mixed woodland.

\n

The last of the uphill stretch became much steeper as we reached the top of Ashley Hill. Now a gentle downhill stretch brought us out of the woodland on the Chiltern Way and onto land owned by the Berkshire College of Agriculture. This took us to the village of Birchett's Green.

\n

\"Part

\n

Turning north-west, we headed across fields into the grounds of the Berkshire College of Agriculture, passing the grandiose Hall Place before weaving our way through the more functional looking complex of buildings that make up most of the college.

\n

On previous walks through the college, we were able to see their menagerie of exotic animals, but these are now inaccessible to the public unless you pay to visit their zoo. I suppose the college needs to make a bit of extra money this way to help support itself. We followed the prescribed route through the college.

\n

We headed north up to the High Wood on top of Prospect Hill. Some way along a footpath there was a large picnic table overlooking the land to the north of the hill, with views of Hurley and Danesfield House on the other side of the river. The table wasn't quite large enough for all eleven of us to sit around, so some of us found some fallen branches to sit on while we had our picnic lunch.

\n

\"Part

\n

After lunch, we descended the short but steep footpath down to Hurley. Following the road into the village, we took a footpath to the east and joined the Thames Path at Hurleyford Park. We followed the river to Hurley Lock. The path crossed part of the river on a large footbridge to an island that separates the lock and the weir.

\n

There is a tea shop by the lock, which also sells ice creams. Ice cream seemed very desirable at this stage in the walk as we'd covered seven and a half miles by now and the day was heating up. They were closed! Sue, our walk leader, had included an ice cream stop in her walk description, so there were a few disappointed faces.

\n

Crossing back on another footbridge, we were soon back in Hurley village, where we'd started. See our route on Google Maps. Luckily, the village shop had an excellent selection of ice creams on offer, so Sue's reputation was saved.

\n

\"A

\n

\"The

\n

Thank you to Sue for leading this walk.

\n

📸 Back to Volume 41

\n

Return to volume index

\n"}