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!

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There are two possible starts:  the Village Hall or Barnes Corner.  Both are described below and they join at the junction of Wheeler Avenue and Carter Walk.

With your back to the Village Hall, cross straight over onto the gravel track, ignore the first left, which simply takes you round the green, and take the next left into Nursery Road.  At the end, opposite the church, turn right towards the Horse and Jockey.  At the pub, cross the road and follow the footpath round the front and along the side of the pub.  You will emerge in Wheeler Avenue.  Cross straight over to Carter Walk. 

From Barnes Corner, walk along Church Road towards the pond.  Turn right down Ashwells Manor Drive and, at the end, turn left into Stretton Close, right into Wheeler Avenue and then right again into Carter Walk.

Go up Carter Walk and, where it turns sharp left at Katherine Close, keep straight ahead on the footpath.  Cross the rickety stile and turn left.  Follow the left hand edge of the field until you reach a gate near the mast.  Go through the gate and follow the left hand edge of the field into the far corner.  Go through the gate and follow the footpath.  The footpath turns sharp left but it's worth going the few yards through the hedge to your right to see the view over the Gomm Valley towards Wycombe.  The wood in the bottom is Little Gomms Wood which is a BBOWT reserve.  Return to the path and follow it until it emerges in Hammersley Lane via some steps.  Turn right, cross the road, and go down the gravel track beside Pastures Farm, following the footpath sign.  Where the track turns sharp right, go slightly left, through the metal barrier and follow the path as it crosses the valley between two fields.  I love this stretch of path - you feel as if you are in a hidden valley and on a clear day you can see for miles.  Not so lovely is the stile at the end, which was clearly built by a giant with six foot legs!  Climb over it and don't forget to sit on the top and look behind you at the view.  Continue on up the path, bearing right where it joins the track.  You will emerge on Beacon Hill opposite a garden which has gravestones in it. 

Turn right down Beacon Hill.  Follow the road down, ignoring a footpath off to your left.  Follow a track bearing off to the right, clearly signposted as a public footpath, passing Greenacre on your right, and follow the little footpath round past the green gate.  The path takes you onto the Wycombe Heights golf course.  Turn left and keep close to the hedge boundary behind which is Town Farm.  The line of trees you can see on the hillcrest to your right is Hammersley Lane.  When you meet a track, marked as a public bridleway, turn right.  Loudwater is straight ahead, below you.  Follow the track and, as it curves away down the hill, take the little footpath off to your left which is clearly signed with a yellow marker on a post.  Keep to the edge of the woodland and scrub on your right.  Follow this boundary round until you join a track  and, after 20m ,turn left on the track that has come up from the valley, leaving a small patch of woodland to your right. Follow the track as it keeps to the edge of the golf course and drops below a green.  Keep straight on into the woodland, keeping an eye out for the marker post on your right and follow the path round to the left just inside the woodland.  Cross over the stile at the corner of the woodand notice that the yellow footpath sign now indicates that you are on the Chiltern Way - a long distance path of about 270 miles which does a long loop around the Chilterns and has is well worth doing (but not today!).  The path drops steeply down the left hand edge of the wood.  You emerge onto a track.  This is the bottom end of Beacon Hill. Cross over the track, and go up the steps and over the stile opposite.  The path goes straight up the hill.  If in doubt,  head for the left hand corner of the woodland straight ahead of you.  When you get to the top, go straight ahead over the stile remaining on the Chiltern Way, ignoring the handwritten footpath sign which points right. Remember to pause and look behind you at the view.   There's no point in all this huffing and puffing unless you stop to admire!  Follow the right hand side of the field to another stile.  Cross the stile and again follow the right hand edge of the field still following the Chiltern Way signs.  Lude Farm is on your right.  Follow the path right into the corner of the field.  Don't go into the wood - you leave the Chiltern Way at this point and turn right over a stile, not the one straight ahead of you.  Diagonally across the field lies Lude Farm.  Head across the field to the breeze block wall and a red gate.  There is a stile onto the road about 10m to the left of the corner.  This is Whitehouse Lane which runs from the garages on the A40 by Tescos, up to Penn Church. 

Turn right onto the road and then left over the stile opposite the entrance to Lude Farm, following the public footpath sign.  Go straight over the field and over another stile.  Turn right onto the track following the edge of the field, with a view of Wilton Tower near old Beaconsfield ahead of you.  Just after you go through the hedge boundary , turn left down the valley.  There is a green public footpath sign on your right.  Keep the hedge boundary to your left.  Cross the stile at the bottom of the valley and climb up the other side towards the woodland.  Cross over the stile and enter the woodland.  Ignore the path going left and follow the path straight ahead as it wends its way through the woodland to emerge on a grassy track.  Turn right staying outside the next patch of woodland and go downhill keeping the edge of the woodland on your left.  It turns into a hedge behind which is an old orchard.  Climb up to the corner of the field underneath the overhead wires and cross the stile in the corner of the field through the hedge.  Head diagonally right up the field heading for two trees on the horizon.  Cross the stile over the barbed wire and head straight through the orchard passing the old apple trees.  You will see a stile straight ahead.  Follow the path in a straight line keeping the house on your right.  There is a gate onto the lane.  Go onto the lane and turn left.  The lane can be quite busy - it goes from the Red Lion in Forty Green to Penn Church.  After 100m you reach the sign for the Royal Standard.  Turn right to the pub.  Before you go in, note the footpath to the right of the pub front wall - you are going to take this when you are ready.  You are now two thirds of the way round and have crossed most of the stiles. 

Take the footpath up beside the pub and go through the gate into the field, keeping to the left hand edge of the field.   Where the fence bends away to the left, look slightly to your right for the gate into the woods on the opposite side of the field.  Head for this and go through and into the woodland.  After 15 metres, turn left at the crossing path.  Follow the path as it wends round and starts to follow an old sunken trackway with woodland on your right.  The path emerges onto a farm track beside some large gates.  The house straight ahead is the new house that was built on the Penn Road.  Turn left and go down the path between the two hawthorn hedges.  At the end of the path, turn right onto the lane.  Where another lane joins, turn left and go uphill.  (This is the far end of Whitehorse Lane which you crossed earlier.)  Where a lane joins from the left, there is a public bridleway sign on your right at the end of the small patch of woodland.  Follow this.  The bridleway is running roughly parallel to Church Road, Penn and you are now heading for home.  After about quarter of a mile, you will see a stile on your left.  Cross this and bear right diagonally over the field to the far corner.  At the stile in the corner, you will see that the yellow arrow has Chiltern Way on it again.  Cross the stile, and follow the path over the field beside the barbed wire. Cross the stile and go along the footpath between the two evergreen hedges.  You will meet a gravel drive.  Follow this out to the road which is Beacon Hill, ignoring the Chiltern Way as it heads off to the right..

You now have a choice.  You can either turn right and follow the road all the way to the end where you turn left to head back into Tylers Green.  Keep left at the fork and head straight over the Common to the track.  Turn left on the track and you will find yourself at the Village Hall.   Alternatively, turn left into Beacon Hill,  and after about 50m where the 30mph sign is, you will see a green public footpath sign.  This is the path that you started out on and you can retrace your steps to end up back at the Wheeler Avenue estate and thus Barnes Corner (or the Horse and Jockey pub!).

Hilary Forbes