Walks

In an area renowned for its rich stock of ancient woodland, Penn Wood, at its very heart, stands out as one of the largest. The wood forms part of a mosaic of semi-natural ancient woodland and wood pasture, grassland and scrub, rich in wildlife and flora including at least 10 plants not commonly found in the county. It has a good bird population and a number of nationally scarce invertebrates.

Some of its older inhabitants include the remains of an ancient beech and a veteran oak, along with a scattering of trees dating back more than 200 years.

Penn Wood is well served with a network of paths, and a map can be downloaded here.

The Penn Estate consists of approximately 1100 acres of farmland and 450 acres of woodland. The woodlands range from small blocks of one acre, to blocks of eighty acres. Some of the smaller woodlands were planted as game coverts and date from the 19th century when game shooting was a major pastime of the owners of the estate. A map detailed five different walks is available to download, ranging from 1 mile to 15 miles.

Click here to download the guide.

When the trees are losing their leaves, a walk to the south of the village is rewarded by superb views over the Thames Valley and into Berkshire.  This walk is around 6 miles long with a few ups and downs and plenty of stiles.  There is a pub, the Royal Standard, after about 4 miles so there are two sensible ways to tackle the walk:  use the top of every stile as a seat from which to admire the views and take some money for a revictualling stop!