Nettlebed Family, Chilterns

Start : The Old Kiln, Nettlebed RG9 5BA. Grid Reference SU 701 868

(S/E) Start the walk at the Old Kiln (A) and walk down to the main road. Turn right along the High Street (B). Go past the White Hart Hotel on your right until you reach St Bartholomew Church on your left.

Turn right along a footpath opposite the church, walk past the allotments and climb gently uphill to the B481 Watlington Road.

(1) Turn immediately left down a byway. At the bottom fork left and follow the byway until it becomes a surfaced lane.

(2) Shortly after, turn right on a path through Copse Wood. The path can be indistinct so look out for the white arrows on the trees. The path generally stays in the same direction through the wood until it emerges onto the busy B481 road. Cross over with care and turn left for about 150m until you reach a footpath on your right.

Follow this path through an avenue of beech trees, an ancient boundary bank. Ignore the first right-of-way on your left which goes through a gate. When the path divides take the left-hand fork and after 50m cross an unsurfaced lane.

::3: Continue along the narrow path which follows the fenceline on your left. This will bring you out by a couple of houses and another unsurfaced lane. Follow the lane round to the right then uphill for about 200m to a right-hand bend.

At the bend, stay straight ahead up on a path following the white arrows through the woods. This will bring you out onto a lane.

(4) Turn right and follow the lane downhill to the B481. Turn left to return to the High Street and the Green.(S/E)

This walk combines beautiful scenery with interesting buildings and much historical interest. The route takes you through ancient beech woodlands and through the Common Land around Nettlebed which used to be a major centre for brick, tile and pottery manufacture from medieval times thanks to its rich bed of clay and plentiful supply of firewood and springwater.

Terrain: There are a few hilly sections on this walk, though over half the walk is level. There is one moderate downhill along Bushes Lane and a long steady downhill along Mill Road (surfaced). There is a moderate climb up Windmill Hill (from to waypoint (3)) towards the end of the walk. 

Start & finish: The Old Kiln, Nettlebed RG9 5BA. Grid Reference SU 701 868

Food & drink: The White Hart pub and the Field Kitchen café in Nettlebed. None on the walk route. 

Parking: There is roadside parking around the village green near the kiln.

Local transport: Bus Service X38 runs between Oxford and Reading on Monday to Saturday.

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.
To find out more please visit Chiltern Society website here.

(A) Old Kiln
This is an historic landmark in the village. Apart from the old clay workings on Nettlebed Common, the only evidence of a one time flourishing industry is this 18th Century bottle kiln which would have fired up to 18,000 bricks at a time.

(B) History Look out along the High Street for the many 18th Century houses faced with the local brick.