# 🥾 Walk 558 - Hartley Wintney, West Green, Mattingley and Hazeley Heath

Fourteen of us, plus a dog met up in Hartley Wintney on a rather grey looking January day (Sunday 29th January, to be precise). After welcoming the three guests who where trying out our group, we set off along the High Street before taking a footpath that led up to the south-eastern tip of Hazeley Heath.

It wasn't long before we were heading back out of the heath, via Hazeley House to the south-west. A short walk along West Green Road took us to West Green Common. A well-made path through the woods was followed by a muddy path across a cow field. Now heading north along a lane, we crossed another field before a narrow footpath and a gravel road took us into Dipley.

![Leaving Hazeley Heath on our way to West Green.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume43/images/hazeley_house_woodland.jpg)

Standing on Dipley Bridge, we took a look at the picturesque mill. It was summer when I last led a walk around here, and it looked quite different. Most of the plants are now dormant and the weeping willow that once obscured the mill has been heavily cut back.

We followed West Green Road almost as far as the B3349 Reading Road and turned north through woodland to Mattingley. The end of this woodland path passed by a children's play area, and the path had been decorated with a number of colourful metal butterflies on wires.

![The bridge by Dipley Mill.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume43/images/dipley_mill_bridge.jpg)

We stopped for lunch in the grounds of Mattingly Church - a 14th century grade 1 listed timber-framed building. This unusual church is well worth a look at if you're passing. We didn't have a look inside this time as there was a service taking place. There weren't enough benches for us all to sit, however a stone gulley surrounding the church provided us with some useful but low seating.

After lunch we headed eastward over muddy farmland and passed Dipley Mill again, this time through the gardens at the back. More farmland was crossed on our way back to Hazeley Heath, involving a few stiles over which the dog had to be lifted!

![Stopping for lunch by Mattingley Church.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume43/images/mattingley_church_lunch_stop.jpg)

We took a circuitous route that went north-west of the heath before turning south-east, passing the gated entrance and driveway to Bramshill House, used until recently as a police college and now acquired by developers. We speculated on what the developers would do with it and also discussed a gruesome story associated with the house. According to legend, a bride hid in a wooden chest during a game of hide-and-seek on her wedding night and became trapped. The groom and family assumed she'd run away, but many years later a desiccated corpse was found in the chest, wearing her wedding dress.

Following a bridleway south-eastward along the edge of the heath, we returned to Hartley Wintney. See our route on Google Maps. A few of us popped into the Waggon and Horses for a drink after the walk. There was a log fire burning in the snug, which was a perfect way to round off a winter walk.

![Passing by Crabtree Lodge in Hazeley Heath.](https://www.berksww.org.uk/scrapbooks/volume43/images/hazeley_heath_crabtree_lodge.jpg)

*Rob led this walk and wrote it up.*

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