Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire

Bradenham countryside trail

Bradenham in early spring in the Chilterns countryside, Buckinghamshire — Bradenham in the Chilterns in early spring | © National Trust / Hugh Mothersole

This is a 2-mile walk taking you around the pretty village of Bradenham where the young Benjamin Disraeli spent much of his childhood. Two gentle uphill climbs are rewarded by beautiful views across the local countryside, and towards West Wycombe and Bledlow Ridge. Explore a classical Chiltern blend of hills topped with beech woodlands, gentle rolling valleys and farmland along the route.

Near to

Chilterns Countryside

Start point

National Trust Bradenham village car park. Grid reference: SU827969

Trail information

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Difficulty*

Accessibility**

Full trail

DistanceMiles: 2 (km: 3.2)

Duration1 hour

Dog friendly***

*Soft footpaths and two gentle climbs. Paths can become muddy after rain. For further details, please see Terrain section.
**The trail has a number of gates. Paths can be slippery after rain. For further details, please see section marked Access.
***Dogs are welcome, but must be kept under strict control due to livestock. For further details, please see section marked Facilities.

Footpath signs

Note that there are orange National Trust footpath signs that help to mark this route at various key points along the walk.

Address
Start at the National Trust car park in Bradenham village near the cricket pavilion. Grid reference: SU827969.
Directions via Google Maps
By train
The nearest station is a mile (1.5km) away at Saunderton on the Chiltern Railways line. From the station, head southeast toward Slough Lane, then turn left onto Slough Lane. Turn right onto Wycombe Rd/A4010 and after just under a mile (1.3km), turn left at the Red Lion pub into Bradenham Wood Lane to join the route at point 2
On foot
Explorer 172
By bus
The main bus route through Bradenham is route 321 between High Wycombe and Aylesbury. The bus stop is near the Red Lion pub in Bradenham Road (the A4010).
Cycling
Bradenham is accessible by bicycle from High Wycombe or Princes Risborough. The Chiltern Cycleway passes Saunderton Station (see access by train above). Please note that no cycling is allowed on much of the trail. Please see OS Explorer map 172.
By road
From the A4010, High Wycombe to Princes Risborough road, take Bradenham Wood Lane. Take the first right (Rectory Lane) along the edge of the village green, then next left along a track on the southern edge of the village green for about 180 metres. The designated car park is just after the cricket pavilion. SATNAV: the nearest postcode is HP14 4HF.
Dogs
Dogs are welcome, but must be kept under strict control as livestock is grazed on several parts of the route.
Car park
Free parking is available in Bradenham village, near the cricket pavilion at grid reference: SU827969
Toilet
There are no public toilets on site. The nearest public toilets are in West Wycombe village.
Picnic area
Benches and other places to picnic can be found on the village green and at several places along the route.
Tea-room
The Red Lion in Bradenham is a Tea House, serving breakfast, light lunches and afternoon tea. It also has a small licensed bar.
Total stages: 10
Total stages: 10
Start point
National Trust Bradenham village car park. Grid reference: SU827969
Stage 1
Head gently downhill following the track from the car park along the southern edge of the village green. In the summer months, you might encounter a cricket match, so keep an eye out for the ball. From this side of the green, you have an opportunity to see the layout of the unspoilt Chiltern village of Bradenham and its flint and brick cottages.
Bradenham Village
Bradenham is a scenic village with cottages clustered around a village green with its notorious sloping cricket pitch. The village name is Anglo-Saxon and means 'broad enclosure', referring to the fact that the village sits in a broad valley among the surrounding Chiltern Hills. In the Domesday Book of 1086, the village was recorded as 'Bradeham'. The majority of cottages are 18th century, and the area around the green has been designated a conservation area, with 18 listed buildings. The entire village of Bradenham is now in the care of the National Trust.
Stage 2
Turn right at the T-junction at the end of the village green. You soon see on your right a large boulder in the green. Bear right towards the boulder, which is a large sarsen stone.
Sarsen stones
The valley sides and bottoms around Bradenham are littered with sarsen stones, many of which have been moved off neighbouring farmland to allow the unimpeded use of machinery. This specimen at Bradenham is particularly large and was relocated here from a neighbouring field in 2000 to mark the new millennium. The sarsens represent an ancient river deposit and are made of a very tough material called silcrete. This formed in a semi-arid climate around 20 million years ago, when Britain was much warmer. None of the sarsens are in the place they were originally formed, although they have probably not moved far.
Large sarsen stone at Bradenham, Buckinghamshire | © National Trust / Hugh Mothersole
Stage 3
From the sarsen stone, head directly towards the church along the northern side of the village green. Along the edge of the road, you'll encounter more pieces of sarsen stone as well as pieces of Bradenham puddingstone.
Puddingstones
These comprise very well-rounded, flint pebbles in a very hard silcrete matrix. The flints originate from ancient chalk rock that was weathered and eroded away when sea levels rose in the Palaeocene (56–66 million years ago), leaving behind tough flint nodules. Some of these flints were subsequently rounded into pebbles on ancient beaches associated with shorelines that extended across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. The matrix of the rock is sandy, and like the sarsen stones, is cemented together by silcrete, which formed under the same warm, semi-arid climate around 20 million years ago. Like the sarsens, none of the puddingstones are in the place they were originally formed, although it's unlikely they've moved far.
Puddingstones in Bradenham woods, Buckinghamshire | © National Trust / Hugh Mothersole
Stage 4
You are now approaching the Parish Church of St Botolph and to the right of it, Bradenham Manor House.
The parish church of St Botolph
The church was restored in 1863 by G.E. Street, although the south door dates from the early Norman period and is reputedly the oldest church doorway in Buckinghamshire. The earliest part is the nave, dating from 1100. The remainder of the building dates from the fourteenth century onwards, the north chapel being added in 1542. In the medieval tower hang two of the oldest bells in England, which were cast in about 1300. The church contains a tablet to Isaac and Maria D'Israeli, Benjamin Disraeli's parents, both of whom lie at rest here. Note the inscriptions carved into the wooden archway gate dedicated to the local soldiers fallen during the First World War. The building stones are local, consisting of flint with some sarsen stones and Portland limestone (from North Buckinghamshire).
Stage 5
On reaching the brick wall in front of the church, turn left. Taking care, cross the road to a small car park by the village pond. To the right of the pond, turn left following a public footpath sign along a wide track between hedges towards a gate. Head through the gate, then a second gate and continue in the same direction for about 400 metres on a path through a field, with a wooden fence on your left.
Stage 6
On meeting a wide crossing track, head straight across. There is an unusual star-shaped bench here, with room for the whole family. The path now heads gently uphill, with a line of trees on a bank on the right.
Stage 7
After a further 400 metres, at the junction of several tracks, turn sharp right up a short slope and through a metal kissing gate into a field. Follow the edge of the field uphill, with Park Wood on your left and fine views back towards Bradenham over the field on your right.
Park Wood
Archaeological surveys undertaken in Park Wood have revealed a fascinating past for this quiet area of deciduous woodland. Lynchets and banks within the woods give evidence of ancient field systems which may date back to the late Iron Age/early Roman period (or they may be medieval). There is evidence of a late thirteenth/early fourteenth homestead in the woodlands and in Tudor times (1485–1603) the woodland was a deer park. Much of Park Wood was converted to beech woodland from the late 18th until the early 20th century to cater for the High Wycombe furniture industry. Associated features include sawpits, tracks, and charcoal burning platforms.
Stage 8
On reaching the corner of the field, go through a metal kissing gate. Go down some steps and continue directly down the slope ahead of you, crossing an area of rough meadow (marked on OS maps as woodland) to a track below. Cross the track and turn half right following a path which crosses the meadow diagonally to the end of a hedge. Carry on in the same direction following a clear path that runs diagonally uphill to a gate in the corner. Notice the many anthills on this sunny south-facing slope. From here you can see back across the Bradenham valley towards Park Wood and the hilltop village of Bledlow Ridge.
Bradenham valley
Like other major valleys or gaps in the Chilterns that run approximately northwest to southeast, the Bradenham valley was predominantly formed during the Pleistocene epoch (the Ice Ages), between 2.5 million and 10,000 years ago. Like most other Chiltern valleys, it is now a dry valley because the underlying chalk is permeable to water. During the Ice Age, in permafrost conditions, water could not pass through the frozen ground. Seasonal thawing, particularly of the ice sheets to the north, would have released large amounts of water, which would have cut down into the chalk to create the present 'fossil' valley.
Stage 9
Go through the normally open field gate and turn right along a path, initially with a post-and-wire fence on your left and woodland on your right. Look out for a tall, isolated tree stump on your left full of holes, where woodpeckers have been busy pecking for insects. About 150 metres from the gate, where a diagonal crossing track joins the path from the left, bear right. Follow this path downhill along the firebreak between two areas of woodland. This woodland has recently been partially logged in order to provide a grassland corridor for the various butterfly species found in this area, such as the speckled wood and silver-washed fritillaries. After about 200 metres you will reach a gate from which you can see views of Bradenham, including the Manor House and the Church.
Stage 10
Go through the gate and continue to follow the path downhill through an area of shrubs. The path soon starts to cross a field diagonally (half left) towards a gate. Go through the two gates that take you back to the car park by the village pond. Take care crossing the busy road and head straight on past the church and the entrance to Bradenham Manor to reach your starting point.
Bradenham Manor (not open to the public)
There has been a manor house at Bradenham since the 13th century, when it was a property belonging to the Earl of Warwick. In 1566 Queen Elizabeth I was entertained here by Lord Windsor. The current manor house was substantially built in the 17th century, with tall sash windows, steep roofs and slim brick chimneys. In the 19th century it was the home of Isaac D'Israeli who died here in 1848. His son Benjamin Disraeli, who became Prime Minister, lived here as a child, but spent much of his adult life at the nearby Hughenden Manor, which is also cared for by the National Trust. Hughenden Manor is open to the public throughout the year.
Bradenham Manor in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire | © National Trust / Martin Oetiker
End point
National Trust Bradenham village car park. Grid reference: SU827969
Trail map
Bradenham countryside trail map | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey
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View of the manor and the church in Bradenham village in February at Bradenham Estate, Chilterns Countryside, Buckinghamshire

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