Lacey Green Route

START and FINISH: The Whip Inn, Lacey Green HP27 0PG. Grid ref: SP 818 007

(S/E) From the pub take the road opposite, Loosley Hill, and head downhill.

(1) At the crossroads turn left into Lower Road and walk along for 400m to a gate on the left opposite Foundry Lane. Go over the unusual metal stile and head uphill along the fence line. At the top, cross the stile, bear right and walk along the top edge of the field. Pass through a gate in a small wood into the next field and stay in the same direction to the right of the hedgerow. After the next gate, continue straight ahead again, keeping to the right of the hedgerow as it winds its way downhill. Where that ends, continue for a further 80m, bear right past fencing and through a gap in the hedgerow to a lane.

(2) Turn left along the lane past (B) Small Dean Farm and after a further 200m turn right into a small gravel car park (C) BRADENHAM NT ESTATE.

Go through the gate at the back into a field; turn left along the fence and follow the path steeply uphill to the gate ahead. Go through and climb up a few metres to a path at the edge of the wood. Turn left to continue climbing up through the wood and, near the top, fork right up to a crossing path.

Turn left and go out through a gate to a lane. Turn right along it for 150m and turn left through a gate into a field. Continue along the left-hand edge (along (D) Grims Ditch) and through two further gates to a road.

(3) Cross the road and head down the lane opposite (Slad Lane). Where the road bends to the right, keep ahead on a footpath by the entrance to the tennis club (E).

Follow the path between hedge and fence and cross over a stile. Continue in the same direction over the next field. Go through two gates and continue between hedge and fence. Cross a stile, bear right across a field towards a stile in the hedgerow ahead.

Go over to a lane (Flowers Bottom Lane) and turn left along it. At the first bend, bear left past a post box onto an unmade lane and walk along for 300m to Ducks Nest Cottage.

(4) Turn right immediately after Ducks Nest Cottage and continue ahead for 100m. Go through the kissing gate and descend along the left-hand edge of the field. After passing through the gate at the bottom, turn left onto to country lane for 1.4km as it climbs steadily. The lane is unmade in the middle section. Carry on past (F) White House Farm and continue on the lane uphill to the house called Datcha.

(5) At Datcha, turn right past the house and follow the path between hedge and fence and go through a gate. Turn left along a wide track that becomes a residential road. At the end turn right along the main road to return to the start.(S/E)

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TERRAIN: An easy walk with three climbs.

START and FINISH: The Whip Inn, Lacey Green HP27 0PG. Grid ref: SP 818 007

FOOD and DRINK: The Whip Inn, Lacey Green (check food offering in advance)

PARKING: Park on the verge by the Whip Inn in Pink Road or by the roadside in Loosley Hill opposite

LOCAL TRANSPORT: Bus 300 runs between High Wycombe to Aylesbury all week, and Princes Risborough Community Bus to Lacey Green on a Tuesday

This walk was created for the book 50 Great Walks in the Chiltern.

(A) Lacey Green windmill: England’s oldest remaining ‘smock’ mill, so called due to its resemblance to an old fashioned farmer’s smock. The internal wooden machinery appears to date from c1650. During the 19th century it was rebuilt and modernised with fantail, patent sails, governor and machinery for grain cleaning and flour sifting, and continued working until 1915.

In the 1920s it was used as a weekend cottage. Despite some obvious attempts at weatherproofing, by the mid-1930s it was in poor condition. By the late 1960s, the mill was in a desperate state, the whole body being twisted and tilted.

In 1971 the Chiltern Society stepped in and volunteers, led by Christopher Wallis, began to restore it. The project was completed in 1986 and in July 2013 it was given a prestigious Engineering Heritage Award by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. For opening times see www.laceygreenwindmill.org.uk.

(B) SMALL DEAN FARM: The farm sells eggs and ice cream.

(C) BRADENHAM NATIONAL TRUST ESTATE: The noticeboard tells the history of the Estate. There is a 17th century manor house which was once the home of Benjamin Disraeli’s father, Isaac. There is no doubt that Benjamin and his wife, Mary Ann, were frequent visitors.

(D) GRIM’S DITCH: The footpath runs alongside a section of Grim’s Ditch. This major earthwork runs discontinuously from Bradenham to Berkhamstead / Potten End. It is believed to be late Iron Age c100 BC. The purpose of this feature is uncertain. It possibly had two main functions. One as a boundary delineation of the Catuvellauni Tribe lands in the upper Chilterns and as a containment barrier for animals grazing in summer pastures. With an inner ditch and outer bank it was unlikely intended to have any defensive purpose.

(E) RAF LACEY GREEN: The fields around Stocken Farm were requisitioned during WWII for the construction of a new airfield, which was principally for the use of Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris, C-in-C at nearby Bomber Command. It was also used by light reconnaissance aircraft, such as the Auster. The land has now been returned to farming.

(F) WHITE HOUSE FARM: Built in 1855, it was formerly known as Sunnybank Farm, and has had a couple of notable owners – Margaret Haynes-Dixon and Major General Sir Colin Gubbins. Haynes-Dixon was better known as the author Rumer Godden, who wrote Black Narcissus while living at the farm.

In the early days of WWII, Gubbins established the secret underground resistance movement in Britain, poised to act in the event of a German invasion. Later, as Director of Operations and Training at the Special Operations Executive, he was given full responsibility for secret missions to Western Europe. Finally, in 1943, he was appointed head of the Special Operations Executive. White House Farm became his retirement home.