Sonning Eye Route, Chilterns

Start: The Flowing Spring, Henley Road, Playhatch, Oxon (RG4 9RB). Grid ref: SU 746 767

(S/E) Leave The Flowing Spring car park and turn left uphill to the main road (A4155). Cross with great care and climb the steps opposite into a field. Turn right along the permissive path and keep to the edge of the field for 120m. Turn right through a gap in the hedgerow and go down the the path below. Turn left and walk along for a few metres to a path junction.

(1) Turn left uphill on a bridleway and stay on it, ignoring all tracks left and right, for 1Km to meet a lane. Turn right and follow the lane for 280m through the edge of Binfield Heath, passing the entrance to Gravel Road (B).

(2) Just after a house on the left-hand side of the road called ‘The Old Club House’, turn right onto a footpath signposted to Shiplake (C). Follow the right-hand field edge and where that sweeps to the left continue straight ahead through a gap in the hedgerow into the next field. Stay in the same direction along the field’s right-hand edge to reach Shiplake Copse (D), follow the main path down through the wood to emerge into a field.

(3) Bear left uphill on the left-hand edge of the field. At the top continue for 40m and and go through a gap in the hedgerow into the next field. Go directly ahead across the field for 240m and turn left through a small clump of trees. Ignore the path on the left and continue to the corner of the field. Turn right and follow the fence line for 180m to a disused stone stile. Turn left through the gap in the fence and stay in the same direction to meet the concrete access road to Shiplake Farm. Bear left and continue to a lane (Plough Lane).

(4) Turn right along it to the main road and the Plough. Taking great care, cross to Church Lane and walk along to St. Peter and St. Paul’s Church. Go past the main entrance to the church into the gravel car park of Shiplake College (E). Bear right downhill on the bridleway to a crossing track and turn left through the boatyard to the riverbank.

(5) Turn right over the wooden footbridge and follow the Thames Path for 3.3Km all the way to Sonning Bridge.

(6) Turn right along the road past the entrance to The Mill (F) at Sonning (G) to reach The French Horn.

(7) At the French Horn entrance, cross the road and take the footpath along the left of the parking area then bear right in front of the gate to ‘Farleigh Cottages’. Continue along the surfaced path to a lane. Turn left onto it and continue to a T-junction. Turn right and then stay straight ahead at the next junction past the entrance to Reading Sailing Club.

(8) Go through the gate at the end of the lane, cross the main road with great care and go through the gate directly opposite. Follow the path past allotments along the left-hand edge of two fields and over a small footbridge. Continue along the left-hand edge of the next field for 100m and go left through a gate into the lane. Turn right, cross a stone bridge and turn left into the car park of The Flowing Spring.. (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 & finish: The Flowing Spring, Henley Road, Playhatch, Oxon (RG4 9RB). Grid ref: SU 746 767

Parking: The Flowing Spring (A) Tuesday to Sunday. The landlord has given permission to use the car park and would be delighted to serve you some refreshments. The pub and car park are closed on Mondays

Local transport: None at the start. Bus 800 runs between High Wycombe and Reading all week and stops in Binfield Heath and at The Plowden Arms.

Terrain: An easy walk with two gentle climbs and one steep descent.

Food & drink: The Flowing Spring, The French Horn at Sonning Eye. The Mill at Sonning The Plough, Shiplake (RG9 4BX).

This walk was created for the book "50 Great Walks in the Chilterns" available from the Chiltern Society, White Hill Centre, White Hill, Chesham, Bucks, (HP5 1AG). Tel. 01494 771250. Fax 01494 793745.

(A) The Flowing Spring: The unusual name derives from a nearby natural spring which used to supply the pub with all its water. Parts of the building date back to 18th century, but it’s unclear how long it has been a pub.

(B) Binfield Heath : The village probably dates back to the Anglo-Saxons when it would have been part of a collection of temporary settlements used when the Thames flooded. The name may have come from a corruption of ‘Beonan’ and means ‘a field belonging to Beona’.

(C) Shiplake : The name probably means 'stream where sheep are washed’ although another theory is that it could be the site of a Viking ship burial. Records show that The Plough (Plowden Arms) was an ale house in the mid-18th century but some of its timbers date back to the 1600s. It has had a few names including The Plow, The Plough Inn and The Plough Hotel. The 12th century Church of St Peter and St Paul is noted for its medieval glass windows. On 13th June 1850 the poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, was married to Emily Sellwood, a cousin of the Vicar's wife. Some say that Tennyson wrote a poem commemorating the wedding and dedicated it to the Vicar of Shiplake in lieu of payment.

(D) Shiplake Copse looks its best in spring when the woodland floor is a carpet of bluebells. Over the years the plant had many uses; in the Bronze Age, bluebell glue was used to attach feathers to arrows. In Elizabethan times ruffs were stiffened with its starch and the sap was used to bind books.

(E) Shiplake College was originally known as Shiplake Court which dated back to the 12th century. It was rebuilt in the 14th century by the Englefield family and later was the residence of Sir Edmund Plowden. In the late 18th century the then owner gambled away all his money and the house fell into such disrepair it was demolished in 1804. The current building dates from the 1890s and is now an independent school.

(F) The Mill at Sonning. There has probably been a mill on site since Domesday in 1086. The present mill dates back to 1797 when it was rebuilt following a fire. In the 1980s it was converted into a theatre and restaurant complex. In spring 2015 the mill be opening a new café, please contact them for opening times.

(G) Sonning Eye’s name is of Saxon origin and refers to ‘Sunna’ who was a chieftain and ‘Eg’ which describes a settlement on an island. Its history is very much entwined with the main village across the Thames in Berkshire and since Roman times has been a major crossing point of the river. Over the centuries there have been a number of bridges; a Saxon one, a medieval wooden one and finally the current brick bridge built c1785.