Saturday 13th May Chicheley walk led by Lynn

 

Three ladies - Brenda, Kate and Joy - met Lynn in The Chester Arms car park. Nobody else arrived so we set out on time and crossed the A422 to head down Hall Lane. Soon after the houses end, we turned right through a gate and followed the path along the edge of the field, turned right at the top corner to walk parallel to the Chicheley Road, then crossed it to head up the track which leads to Hill Farm. Following the track to the left past the farm, we spotted two hares a short distance away and watched them chase each other around for a while and then carried on to reach North Crawley Road and turned right to walk along there for a short distance. 

At the top of the small hill, we took the footpath going left through the grounds of a house called Regatta’. The people here are obviously collectors. Not only was there an awful lot of different things, there were some bizarre items there too, one of which looked like some sort of strange bell!
Anyway, on with the walk and through the kissing gate with two hard hats on it’s posts (!) and along the edge of a couple of fields, climbing gradually. We turned left at the top and stopped at the corner of the next field for elevenses. This was a spot with good views, although not so great on the day as it was disappointingly grey with low cloud. It was very chilly too! Joy was the only one that had brought a woolly hat and gloves with her. It took quite a while for the rest of us to warm up.

Kate, Brenda, Lynn & Joy

The path then took us past Tickford Park Farm from where we followed the track downhill. Just as the path started bearing left , we took a path going right but the farmer hadn’t reinstated the path through the crop, so Lynn had to practice using her compass (thanks to Ruth for the lesson) to pick the correct route across. Keeping in the same direction, we crossed another field and into a third before veering left to go through a lovely patch full of flowering red campion. A little later on we faced a watery challenge trying to pass one flooded corner into the next field without getting a bootful! At the top of the next field we joined a bridleway then turned right to reach Folly Lane in North Crawley. Walking up the lane we came across an unexpected place to momentarily put our feet up - a swinging seat on the roadside!

Kate, Joy & Brenda on the swing

Further up the lane we headed to the church, which was unexpectedly open, so we were able to have a look round.

We walked from there, along the High Street, past the top of Folly Lane and then took the path going right and followed it through the houses to Orchard Way. Across the road we picked up the path heading across the fields to Little Crawley and Gog Lane (where did that name come from?). Around the corner, the path went across the fields back towards Chicheley. As you walk through some trees closer to the village, you suddenly get a glimpse of Chicheley Hall (if you can zoom in on the photo below you can just about make it out in the distance behind us), which is on or near the site of the old Manor House that belonged to the Pagnell family of Newport Pagnell fame. 

The path goes very close to the Hall and you get another view of it if you look left when crossing an avenue of trees before reaching the A422. From there it’s just a short distance back to the pub and a well-earned lunch. 

Track of walk in yellow.