Seventeen of us headed off from a sunny and breezy start on Maidensgrove Common in the Chiltern Hills on Saturday 20th April. Being fairly high ground in South Oxfordshire it's often a windy spot - with plenty of parking usually available. It was good to welcome some new members on this walk, and lovely to have see recent joiners out with the group again, as well as our longstanding members.
We began by walking downhill into the Warburg Nature Reserve, managed by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust.
This was shortly followed by a climb up the other side of the valley, watching the squirrels among the trees. Crossing parkland near Crocker End, as we approached Nettlebed, happily there were carpets of bluebells and wild garlic to be seen.
The Cheese Shed café was our next point of call - for coffee and cake to refuel after the climb uphill. Some of us also popped in to St Bartholmew's church to see the nature themed stained glass windows designed by John Piper.
Leaving Nettlebed, it was lovely to find yet more bluebells flowering as we headed towards Park Corner. A large herd of deer were also seen in the fields near Redpits Manor as we approached our lunch spot. Fallow or Roe deer? We weren't sure which!
After lunch, we continued along the valley, followed by a slow and steady climb back up the hill to Russell's Water. Taking a path initially through the bracken, then back across the wide open expanse of Maidensgrove Common to return to our start point. See our route on Google Maps.
Thanks go to Ruth for leading this walk and for writing it up. (Photos by Rob C)
Return to volume index