Watlington Hill in Oxfordshire — Discover Watlington Hill | © Hugh Mothersole

Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire

Watlington Hill and the Wormsley Estate walk

This is a long and fairly challenging walk taking you around Watlington Hill, Pyrton Hill, Cowleaze Wood and the Wormsley Estate, with opportunities to see rare and endangered chalk grassland and woodland habitats, fine views and the grounds of the former home of the philanthropist Sir Paul Getty. The walk offers spectacular views over Watlington and the Vale of Oxford, as well as the Chiltern Escarpment.

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Total steps: 12

Start point

National Trust car park at Watlington Hill, grid ref: SU709935

Step 1

Leave the car park on the path to the left of the large signboard and parking meter into an area of woodland. After about 150m, cross a track to a private property on the left, marked by some wooden and metal bollards, and continue on the path through scrubland to a gate. Go through the gate to an area of open grassland. Continue on the grassy path ahead of you. You will soon see fine views on your right towards Pyrton Hill and Shirburn Hill. Continue straight ahead along the ridge of Watlington Hill. After 430 yards (390 metres) the path heads more steeply downhill and slightly to the right. Keeping to the right, head downhill towards the White Mark (not visible from above until just before you reach it, near a wooden bench).

Watlington Hill

Watlington Hill is a part of the Chiltern Escarpment that is managed by the National Trust. It consists of 45 hectares (110 acres) of land and reaches a peak altitude of 770 feet (235 metres). Watlington Hill is a nationally important wildlife site, home to a large assemblage of wildflowers, butterflies, birds, mosses, lichens and fungi – many of them rare or scarce. The short chalk grassland turf was originally created by centuries of sheep grazing, but it is now maintained by a population of rabbits and deer. Ant-hills, some of which are quite ancient, add additional interest, and areas of woodland and scrub complete the scene.

Step 2

Go through the gate to an area of open grassland. Continue on the grassy path ahead of you. You will soon see fine views on your right towards Pyrton Hill and Shirburn Hill. Continue straight ahead along the ridge of Watlington Hill. After 430 yards the path heads more steeply downhill and slightly to the right. Keeping to the right, head downhill towards the White Mark.

The Watlington White Mark

In 1764, the local squire, Edward Horne, gave Watlington a most unusual talking point. He felt that the Norman parish church of St. Leonard, when viewed from his home, would be more impressive if it had a spire. To create the illusion, he designed the 270ft steeple-shaped Watlington White Mark, which he had cut into the chalk escarpment of Watlington Hill, perfectly placed to complete his view (now mostly obscured by trees). The White mark is one of around 50 hill figures in England.

Large white chalk mark on hill overlooking green valley with settlement in the distance — The White Mark, Watlington Hill, Oxfordshire | © National Trust Images/Hugh Mothersole

Step 3

From the White Mark, continue down a steep slope heading for a gate in the lower right-hand corner of the Watlington Hill site. From the gate, head down a short track to meet a road. Ignore the footpath opposite to Watlington Chalk Pits. Instead, follow the roadside path for about 33 yards (30 metres) and then cross the road. Turn right onto a track signposted as the Ridgeway long distance footpath, which at this point follows the route of the ancient Icknield Way.

The Icknield Way

The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern England that goes from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. It is thought by some to be one of the oldest traceable routes in Britain, although this has been disputed, and the evidence for its being a prehistoric route has been questioned. The earliest mentions of the Icknield Way are in Anglo-Saxon charters from the year 903 onwards. The charters refer to several locations that span a distance of 40 miles from Wiltshire to Buckinghamshire.

Step 4

Continue along the Ridgeway between a set of concrete blocks, following the wide track for just over 820 yards (750 metres) until you reach another two sets of concrete blocks either side of a crossing lane. Here, turn right onto the lane (Station Road), which is part of the Oxfordshire Way. After 380 yards (350 metres), you pass through some white wooden fencing. After a further 110 yards (100 metres) look out for a concealed path on your left, marked PY16.

Step 5

Follow this clearly marked path along the edge of Pyrton Wood and Shirburn Wood, through woodland and grassland. At a fork, keep left on path SH3 with open fields on your left and woodland on your right. After almost a mile (1500 metres), you will reach a gate at the bottom of an area of open access land at Shirburn Hill.

Step 6

Follow the obvious footpath uphill across the chalk grassland at Shirburn Hill. On reaching the top, go through a gate and continue uphill to reach a stile. Cross the stile and continue diagonally across a field towards a second stile in the opposite corner of the field, just left of a house. Cross the stile to reach Christmas Common Road. Cross with care and turn left on the road in front of a large water tower in a fenced off enclosure. At the end of the fenced enclosure, join a footpath on your right which leads into Cowleaze Wood and runs parallel with the road. Follow this for about 220 yards (200 metres) until you reach the car park. Walk through the car park until you are opposite the road entrance. Here turn right into the woodland, away from the road.

Shirburn Hill chalk grassland

Shirburn Hill is a large area of chalk grassland on the Chiltern Escarpment. Wild candytuft, which is a nationally rare species, can be found here alongside rock rose, autumn gentian, the rare Chiltern gentian, common spotted orchid, clustered bellflower, marjoram, eyebright and wild thyme. Leaching of the soil has led to the presence of acid grassland and heather; this type of habitat is called chalk heath and such acidic habitat is very rare in the Chilterns. Butterfly species seen here include the marbled white and the small skipper.

Step 7

Take the waymarked footpath that heads between wooden bollards away from the road, past a noticeboard about the 51 Squadron Memorial, and follow signs towards the memorial. Head across a wide avenue to a waymarked footpath (positioned slightly to the left) and follow a white arrow painted on a tree. The path soon curves to the left and heads gently downhill through an area of woodland. On reaching a gate you enter the Wormsley Estate. Continue straight ahead and downhill across a field to a second gate. Continue straight downhill towards a gate in a small gap in a hedge. Go through the gate to reach a lane.

Cowleaze Wood

Cowleaze Wood, which is managed by the Forestry Commission, incorporates a great mix of woodland habitats. The bluebells in late April and May are like a blue carpet and well worth a visit. Tragically, on 31 March 1944 a Handley Page Halifax Mk III bomber aircraft, LW579 of No 51 Squadron RAF, was returning from the Nuremburg raid when it crashed in the wood, killing all seven of its crew. The aircraft was based at RAF Snaith in Yorkshire and seems to have been at least 120 miles (190 km) off course. It was a cloudless moonlit night, and it is not clear why the Halifax lost height and crashed into the hill. There is a monument in the wood to the crew of LW579. It is a stone plinth from Lincoln Cathedral with the names of the crew inscribed upon it. There is also an information board about the crash next to the path into Cowleaze Wood.

Step 8

Turn left, following the lane for 65 yards (60 metres) towards Vicar's Farm, looking out for a tall wooden gate on your right with a painted white maker to path L23; it is easy to walk past it. Turn right through the gate and follow the path that skirts around the grounds of Vicar's Farm to another gate. Go through the gate and head half left uphill across a small field to a stile and a path that leads into woodland. Cross the stile and continue in more or less the same direction uphill through the woodland. The path eventually curves right to meet a crossing track. Turn right onto path L19. (Look out for the painted marker on a tree.) Follow this clear, wide path gently downhill until you reach a road at Wellground Farm. Ignore the footpath opposite and turn right onto the road, which takes you through the Wormsley Estate. Soon, through the trees on your right, you catch glimpses of Wormsley Park House, then the Opera Pavilion and then the cricket ground. Where the road turns sharp right, towards Wormsley Park House, bear slightly left ahead on a track.

The Wormsley Estate

Originally owned by the Scrope family from the late 16th century, Wormsley Park is the former home of the philanthropist Sir Paul Getty who moved to Wormsley in 1986. It is now the home of Mark Getty and his family, and the site of the cricket field known as Sir Paul Getty's Ground. Paul Getty spent much time restoring the 18th-century house and estate to their former glory. Getty also had a library added to the house to accommodate his book collection, and a theatre where performances were held for invited guests. In the summer months, Garsington Opera's annual festival is held on the grounds of the park.

Grass path leading through field carpeted in white daisies towards wooden gate in hedgerow — Ox-eye daisies on the Wormsley Estate, Oxfordshire | © National Trust Images/Hugh Mothersole

Step 9

Continue along the track ahead, which follows the bottom of the valley. Where the path splits, keep right, following the narrow path along the valley bottom. Pass through a narrow area of woodland and then continue on the path, with a fence on your left and a hedge on your right, until you reach a crossing path, which is part of the Chiltern Way.

Step 10

Turn right, through a wooden gate next to a metal field gate, onto the Chiltern Way. Follow the path across a field to another gate that leads to a lane. Cross the lane to a further gate and then continue half left across another field towards a gate in the corner. Go through the gate onto another lane. Turn right onto the lane then, after about 33 yards (30 metres), turn left onto footpath SH4, which is also the Chiltern Way. (There is a waymarker and a painted arrow on a telegraph pole on your left as you enter the footpath.) Follow this footpath, with a flint and brick wall on your right. After 220 yards (200 metres), bear right at a Y-junction, leaving the Chiltern Way and following path SH4 across a rough lawn and past an ornamental urn on a plinth. Continue on this path gently uphill, ignoring crossing paths for a mile through the mature beech woodland of Shotridge Wood, until the gradient flattens out at a crossing track.

Step 11

Here, turn right on path SH4, and then, after 85 yards, left onto path PY3. The pockmarked ground to your left is the remains of old chalk pits. You emerge onto a wider track. Turn left towards a house and pass it to the right of a wattle (hurdle) fence. Follow the path round to the right to join a path from the left, putting you between a fence on your left and a hedge on your right. At the next junction, turn left and follow the path between some paddocks to reach a road by a junction.

Step 12

Turn right, following Christmas Common Road for 120m and then turn left into a lane signposted to Watlington. Follow Hill Lane for 460 yards (420 metres), ignoring the first footpath sign on your left, until you reach a second footpath sign. Turn left and then immediately right to return to the National Trust car park at Watlington Hill where you started the walk.

End point

National Trust car park at Watlington Hill, grid ref: SU709935

Trail map

Map of Watlington Hill and Wormsley Estate walk, Buckinghamshire — Watlington Hill and Wormsley Estate walk, Buckinghamshire | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey

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hughenden@nationaltrust.org.uk

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