Binfield Heath and Crowsley Park

Start and Finish: Binfield Heath Post Office & Stores, Binfield Heath, Henley on Thames (RG9 4DU) Grid ref: SU 746 785

(S/E) Starting from Binfield Heath Stores walk along Dunsden Way (signposted to Playhatch). Stay on the lane until reaching the chapel 800m. Turn right into Gravel Road. Look for a footpath left, after about 250m.

(1) Turn left on the footpath and follow the waymarked path along the field edge, switching fields through the tree belt. Continue on to join Tagg Lane. Turn right up the track, passing Spring Cottage on the right.

(2) Just beyond the bend take the path on the right across a small wooden footbridge. Continue over the field to Kiln Lane. The cross-field path here can be indistinct. After 200m you will be walking to the right of a hedge. Look out for a waymark post in the hedge. Here the path bends a little to the right and leaves the hedge. Aim for the right corner of a hedge around a property ahead of you and follow that hedge to the road.

Cross the road into Comp Wood. Stay on the track through the wood and along the field edge. Keep the hedgerow on your right, ignoring other paths, to emerge on the lane at Bishoplands Cottages.

(3) Turn right along the lane and look for a gap in the hedge after about 80m, signposted to Crowsley. Cross the field and descend into the shady wood of Lady’s Shaw. The path then rises alongside Morgan’s Wood, nipping through the hedge and up to join the (A) Chiltern Way at Crowsley. At the thatched Frieze Cottage turn right and follow the lane to its junction with Sonning Common Road.

(4) Turn left and then right at South Lodge, passing through the grand side-gate. (B) Crowsley Park House soon comes into view. Keeping the house on your right, follow the Chiltern Way between the green railings, passing through two gates, into the park. Take the left fork and head toward the large horse chestnut trees. Continue through a kissing gate and across the open park. Bear left at the path junction and follow the waymark posts down to another kissing gate by the road opposite the large black and white house (Old Place).

(5) Go through the gate and turn sharp right, signposted to Binfield Heath (1.5 miles). The path, known as Bones Lane, leads up through Gillsmithers Wood past North Lodge and along the park boundary before dipping down, and then up, through Bones Wood ignoring other paths to left and right. Emerge from the wood, bear right and continue to the Bottle and Glass Inn.

(6) Cross the lane and follow Common Lane to its end. Bear left to return, past the village playground, the Binfield Heath Stores. (S/E)

"We hope you have enjoyed your walk. Please remember to rate the walk and add comments. We are interested in how we could improve the instructions or the route and would like to hear about any issues with paths on the walk."

Start and Finish: Binfield Heath Post Office & Stores, Binfield Heath, Henley on Thames (RG9 4DU) Grid ref: SU 746 785

Parking: Roadside parking by the village playground or small car park behind playground off Kings Common Close.

Local Transport: Bus 800 runs between High Wycombe, Marlow, Henley and Reading all week.

Terrain: Easy walking on mostly good paths and country lanes. Three short moderate climbs up through the woods. Stile free.

Food & Drink: The Post Office & Stores sells refreshments. On the route there’s The Bottle & Glass Inn on the edge of Binfield Heath.

Walk designed by Philippa Sanders, Pipsticks Walks.

(A) The Chiltern Way is a 177 mile circular trail around the Chilterns National Landscape, designed by the Chiltern Society. There is also a 29 mile extension across the Thames - the Berkshire Loop. This walk follows parts of both.

(B) Crowsley Park is a 160-acre (65 ha) country estate owned by the BBC. The BBC still have a receiving station to monitor foreign TV broadcasts, but most of the estate is leased out. Among Crowsley Park's former owners were the Baskerville family, made famous by Conan Doyle in the "Hound of the Baskervilles".