Captain's Wood

Start: The Blue Ball, (A) Asheridge, Chesham HP5 2UX. Grid ref: SP937046

(S/E) On leaving the pub car park, turn left along the road for 200m to the entrance to Widmore Farm.

Turn left along the concrete track through the farmyard and out through a gate at the back. Stay straight ahead along the field edge into the wood and fork immediately right downhill. At the bottom turn right along a wide path for 150m to a path on the left.

(1) Turn left up the slope out of the wood to the top of the hill. Turn right and follow the ridge all the way along to climb up into (B) Captains Wood. Stay on the main track for 800m, ignoring all paths left and right and always maintaining the same height, to a path on the left where the main path sweeps to the right uphill below the buildings.

(2) Turn sharply left and climb up into the playing field. Keep to the left of a playground, follow it round to the right and continue alongside the hedgerow to the right-hand corner of the field. Go past the gate to an access road and turn immediately through the smaller of the two gates. Just before the path swings to the left, turn right through a large metal field gate and the smaller one directly opposite. Bear left across the corner of the field, cross the stile, then to the right of the paddock and through the gate onto the driveway to Mount Nugent Farm.

(3) Turn right down the driveway to a road. Cross, go through the kissing gate opposite and follow the wide track round to the left. After 200m, follow the track round to the right past a field gate and stile, and continue to the entrance to a wood, (C) Ramscoat Wood. Go through the gate, keep straight ahead for 170m and follow the footpath round to the right to leave the wood. Continue downhill to a byway, Ramscote Lane. Turn right along the lane for 200m to a wide track on the left.

(4) Turn left along the track and over a stile to climb up into a narrow field with overhead cables. Turn right, follow the hedgerow round to the left and through the gate on the left into the next field. Turn right and continue uphill, keeping to the left of the hedge (D). Follow the field round to a wide gap in the hedgerow at the top of the hill. Turn right through the gap and continue straight across the middle of two fields for a kilometre to a kissing gate. Go through it and the next one directly ahead (E).

(5) After the gate, turn immediately left, follow the hedgerow and stay in the same direction through two further gates all the way down to the bottom of the hill. Turn right, go through the gate and follow the valley floor for 400m through the next gate onto a wide track, (F) Hawridge Lane.

(6) Turn left along the track as it climbs up past farm buildings and houses to a road, Chesham Road. Cross, turn left along the verge and then right into Two Gates Lane (G).

(7) After 100m bear left, follow the lane as it bends left and then right and continues for a further 300m to where it turns sharp left towards a property. Continue on the path directly ahead and cross the stile into a field. Climb up the hill directly ahead and along to return to the pub and the end of the walk.(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: The Blue Ball, (A) Asheridge, Chesham HP5 2UX. Grid ref: SP937046

Parking: Park roadside near The Blue Ball unless you intend to patronise the pub.

Local Transport: For local bus services please check www.traveline.info

Terrain: An easy walk with a number of short climbs and one steep descent.

Food & Drink: The Blue Ball. None on the walk.

This walk was created for the book "50 Great Walks in the Chilterns" available from the Chiltern Society or from Amazon.

(A) Asheridge: The name could derive from a number of meanings. These include the old English ‘Ash Tree Ridge’, ‘æsc and hrycg’ meaning a ‘long hill covered with ash trees’ or a reference to Matilda de Esserugge. Its most famous residents were the founder of the NHS Aneurin (Nye) Bevan and his wife Jennie Lee who retired to Asheridge Farm. They used to visit the Blue Ball pub and were on Christian terms with the regulars.

(B) Captain's Wood: is an ancient woodland and, since 1995, a designated nature reserve. Its lower bank is one of the most diversified hedgerows in the Chilterns and may date back to the 7thC. Much of the top edge of the wood is hornbeam which was grown for firewood. Since spring 2013, The Chiltern Society has been organising regular conservation working parties to ensure the wood is kept open for all. In 2014 the Society took over the management of the wood from Buckinghamshire County Council. For many years it was believed that the wood was named after a Captain Spratly, who famously discovered the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. However, recent research carried out by the Chiltern Society has revealed that the most likely association was with a Captain Thomas Nugent, a local landowner.

(C) Ramscoat Wood: At the entrance to the wood were the Baker family brickworks, which, it is said, made the finest bricks in Chesham. They were used in the construction of Park Royal Underground Station in London.

(D) Chesham Vale: In medieval times, most of the land in Chesham Vale was farmed using an open-field system, where there was a mixture of common fields and narrow strips. These strips, sometimes called lynchets, were usually cultivated by the tenants of the Lord of the Manor. This area is also known for its ancient hedgerows, some of which could be 1,000 years old. Between 2008 and 2010 they were the subject of a survey carried out by local people on behalf of the Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Biodiversity Partnership.

(E) Hawridge: ahead are the grounds of Hawridge Court, a medieval manor house dating from the 13th century. It’s enclosed by an earlier ringwork, comprising a single rampart and ditch. Hawridge gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon Aucrug which means ‘ridge frequented by hawks’.

(F) Hawridge Lane: On the left at the top of the hill is Animal Farm. This is a small farm producing a wide variety of free-range fresh and frozen meat. Further along on the left are Bellingdon Farm Cottages. They are Grade II listed and date from the 17th century. DH Lawrence rented one of them between August 1914 and January 1915, during which time he wrote The Rainbow.

(G) Bellingdon: The walk passes both Bellingdon Farm and Bloomfield Farm. Like many farmhouses in the area they were built during the 16th and 17th centuries and are both Grade II listed. Bellingdon is famous for its brickworks, the last of which, HG Matthews, is nearby.