Short Local Walk Via JC

A walk through two of the finest nature reserves in the North Chilterns linked by the ancient Icknield Way track. Fine views and a wealth of natural interest.

Starting from Hexton this walk on the borders of Befordshire and Hertfordshire offers mile after mile of beautiful countryside with the hilltops steeped in ancient history. The route includes sections of the Icknield and John Bunyan Ways.

Starting from Hexton this walk on the borders of Befordshire and Hertfordshire includes the attractive downland between Telegraph and Deacon Hills and a section of the Icknield Way.

Starting near the site of Catherine of Aragon's house arrest and venturing into the surrounding areas. You'll see some lovely rolling countryside with views to the Chilterns and across Marston Vale to Bedford. The walk takes in a variety of environments : farmland, woods, an ancient meadow, parkland with Capability Brown landscaping, the ruins of a Jacobean/Classical mansion and memorials to Catherine of Aragon and the men of the Bedfordshire regiment who trained in the park and died in WW1.

This route offers the walker some of the most stunning views in the whole of the Chilterns and visits a number of important wildlife sites featured in the book by Gay Beattie "The Pilgrim’s Progress Wild Flowers and Where to Find Them in The Chilterns." Pegsdon and Deacon Hills were a favourite of the writer and preacher John Bunyan who referred to them in as the "Delectable Mountains".

A circuit from Pegsdon, through the Pegsdon Hills Nature Reserve to Deacon Hill with its ancient earthworks. Return past a mature beech wood and Knocking Hoe reserve.

This is a surprisingly hilly walk for this general area, being the northern end of the Chilterns AONB, mostly through rolling farmland, with some wonderful views across the flatlands of south Bedfordshire to the north, especially if the air is clear. Most of it is along the edges of/through fields, along grass & hard-surfaced paths & tracks. There are two tree-covered 'alleys'. It passes a large late-Tudor manor house. You will walk part of the Icknield Way & visit Pegsdon Hills Nature Reserve.

Only a short distance from Bedford, this is really a delightful rural ramble in the home country of John Bunyan, starting on open uplands, descending to the plain surrounding Bedford and finishing through a stretch of woodland reserve. (The latter only in spring through autumn; in winter a longer alternative must be taken.) There is opportunity for refreshment near the end of the walk. It could be combined with walk 1130.