Preston and Breachwood Green

START & FINISH: The Red Lion (A), The Green, Preston (B), Hitchin SG4 7UD. Grid ref: TL 180 247

::S/E:: From the entrance to the pub car park, cross the village green, taking the Hitchin Road (direction Gosmore) for 110m, then turn left into Chequers Lane. Continue for 275m and after passing a row of cottages called ‘Chequers Cottages’ look out for a footpath left.

::1:: Take the footpath left signposted ‘Chiltern Way Extension’. This passes between hedges to enter Church Meadow where there is a small playground. Pass to the right of the meadow and continue on a fenced path to Butcher's Lane.

::2:: Turn left on the road and after 30m turn right through a kissing gate onto a footpath. Go straight across a field, passing to the right of a black wooden cowshed. Bear half left and continue ahead to a gate and stile, then, bearing slightly right, follow the right-hand hedge to a kissing gate into (C) Dead Woman’s Lane. Turn right into this green lane and follow it for 275m, looking out for a footpath and bridleway left off the lane.

::3:: Turn left, ignore a bridleway immediately to the left and take the footpath straight across a field to a sunken green lane. Turn left into the lane and after 110m by a marker post just beyond a large oak tree, turn right. Cross the field to the left-hand end of a line of oaks, then follow a right-hand fence/hedge straight on, the path becoming enclosed by a left-hand hedge, to reach the road at Austage End.

::4:: Turn left along the road. After 45m, turn right onto a grassy track (marked byway 36), to follow a right–hand hedge. At the far side of the field, pass into the next field and turn left onto a footpath following a left-hand hedge. Where the hedge turns right, go straight on through a hedge gap and across the corner of a field to a hedge gap to the left of an oak tree. Go half left across the next field to a hedge gap proceeding into a green lane. Follow it down to Stopsley Holes Farm.

::5:: Go straight on through the farm buildings to a road junction at the end of the lane. Continue straight on uphill for 275m. Just after a right-hand bend turn left onto a footpath which heads up towards a field. Near the field edge turn right, then continue straight ahead, ignoring the path junction to the left after a few metres.

::6:: Follow this wide, hedged path for 230m to reach a road. Turn left onto it and after 55m turn right through a hedge gap onto a path marked 012, then bear slightly left across a field towards a large hedge gap marked by a line of telegraph poles. Do not pass through the gap, instead pass through the small gap just to the right to enter the next field in its left-hand corner. With the hedge to the left, bear slightly right across the field to the corner of a hedge opposite.

::7:: Go through a hedge gap and follow the right-hand hedge downhill. Near the end of the field turn right, following the right-hand hedge. Pass through scrub and trees to emerge in the top corner of a field. Turn left and follow the left-hand hedge to the road in Lilley Bottom.

::8:: Cross this road and take path marked 033 gently uphill following a left-hand hedge. After 180m follow the hedge to the left to the corner of the field and then turn right, following the hedge uphill through a gate. Continue with the fence on your right, continuing uphill with bushes and trees on the right. Towards the top, (D) the windmill (without sails) comes into view to the right. Ignore the footpath right just before the windmill. At the top right–hand corner of the field go through a gate and straight on into a green lane. This becomes a farm track after a metal bar and joins a road leading into Breachwood Green.

::9:: Continue along this road ignoring turns on right and left, soon becoming a larger road - the Heath. Continue ahead into the outskirts of the village and after the houses on the right-hand side end and at a right-hand bend, turn left through a kissing gate. If visiting the Red Lion at Breachwood Green, continue instead along Heath Road for a further 500m before returning to this point.

::10:: Having passed through the kissing gate you head across a large field to the woods on the other side. Initially aim for the far right corner of the field. Halfway across the field you come to a footpath junction at a waymark post. Bear half-left, aiming for a narrow gap in the trees. All will become clear as you near the wood. Go through the wood and continue straight on following a left-hand hedge down to the road in Lilley Bottom.

::11:: Cross the road and go through a kissing gate opposite, then head straight uphill across a field. As you near the brow of the hill you will see a kissing gate in the right fence, near the top corner of the field. Go through it into a small wood. Turn left onto a path that soon emerges through a gate into a field. Cross the field diagonally, going downhill with glimpses of Kingswalden Bury to the right and (E) King’s Walden church tower ahead. As the path descends it swings a little left to a gate onto the village street.

::12:: Turn right onto the village street and follow it for 275m, passing the church, then turn right through gates onto a path marked 023 Frogmore. Pass through more gates across parkland to reach a gate onto a tree-lined drive. Cross and go through gate, taking a path straight on for 140m. Look out for a footpath left just after a mature Oak tree.

::13:: Bear half left at a marker across the parkland to reach a gate onto a road opposite a distinct white and black timbered house called ‘Whitehall House’. Turn right onto the road and, ignoring Whitehall Lane to the left, continue to the T-junction then turn left onto the Preston road for 65m.

::14:: Just past a barn on the right, turn right through a gap by metal gates onto a footpath into a yard. At the far left-hand corner of the yard, bear half left across and down the field to meet a road. Cross it and go through a hedge gap opposite, descending several steps, then bear half left across the field to a kissing gate at its far left-hand corner. Pass through the gate, bear left through the hedge gap and turn right, following the right-hand hedge through several fields to a kissing gate leading to a road on the outskirts of Preston.

::15:: Turn left onto the road and at a fork continue left. Just past the primary school on the right, turn right into the enclosed tarmac footpath. Follow it to a lane which leads to the village green and back to The Red Lion. ::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."

TERRAIN: A moderate walk in rolling countryside.

START & FINISH: The Red Lion, The Green, Preston, Hitchin SG4 7UD. Grid ref: TL 180 247

FOOD & DRINK: The Red Lion in Preston and the Red Lion in Breachwood Green (a 500m detour just after point 10 on the walk)

PARKING: Parking at the Red Lion for customers only. Otherwise please park considerately in the village

LOCAL TRANSPORT: Bus 88 runs between Luton and Hitchin on Mondays to Saturdays. This bus also stops at King’s Walden and Breachwood Green 

(A) THE RED LION became the first community owned pub in the UK in 1983 and continues to be a vibrant place at the heart of the local community. It has an ever-changing selection of real ales and good food.

(B) PRESTON: With its attractive green, its well, its pub, many old houses and cottages, and its cricket club, Preston is a quintessential English village. It has a long history dating back beyond the Domesday Book. At the time of William the Conqueror the village was part of the Manor of Dinsley. In the 12th C the estate was given to the Knights Templar, an order of Christian knights who protected pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land. They built a preceptory which was called Temple Dinsley. The current house dates from 1714.

(C) DEAD WOMAN’S lane is part of an ancient road from Hitchin to Kimpton. It probably gets its name from being used to carry plague victims to be buried at nearby Wayley Close.

(D) The Breachwood Green windmill is a well-known landmark with commanding views over the Lilley Valley. Dating from around 1860, it was built as a five-storey tower mill on a site where mills have existed since Saxon times. Its working life was short, with the recorded miller being William Dellow from 1862-1899. By the 1980’s the mill was in serious decay, but the tower has since been restored without its sails.

(E) King’s Walden: The village name is derived from its having been a royal manor in a wooded area. It was a royal hunting estate in the time of Edward I. The main settlement is now Breachwood Green which is on the edge of Luton airport. Kingswalden Bury is a stately home rebuilt in neo-Georgian style in 1971 for Sir Thomas Pilkington. The walk crosses the former deer park which now sometimes has rare-breed cows and sheep.