Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire

West Wycombe ridges and bottoms walk

Ridges and Bottoms walk in Buckinghamshire — Chiltern Hills farmland | © David Ellis

Discover all the ups and downs of the valleys that carve their way through the Chiltern Hills on this challenging trail. This circular route is a chance to see how the Ice Age left its mark on the surrounding countryside and learn how humans first settled here. The trail also explores the dense woodland, farmland and villages that call these valleys home.

Near to

Chilterns Countryside

Start point

West Wycombe Hill car park, High Wycombe, HP14 3AH. Grid ref: SU827951

Bring a map

Most of the route isn't on Trust land. While the paths are generally well-maintained, some signs may be hard to find and some tracks may be overgrown. We recommend using your own Ordnance Survey map with these instructions.

Address
West Wycombe Hill car park, High Wycombe, HP14 3AH
Directions via Google Maps
By train
High Wycombe station is about 3.5 miles (5.6km) from the start of the trail.
By bus
From High Wycombe: The number 40 service bus runs from High Wycombe to Thame via West Wycombe. The stop called The Swan Inn is the closest to the start of the trail.
Number 40 service
By road
From London: Head west out of London on the A40 until it becomes the M40. Come off the motorway at junction 4, following signs for High Wycombe, to join the A4010. Follow this through the houses until you reach West Wycombe Road. Turn left and follow signs first to West Wycombe and then to Hellfire Caves and West Wycombe Hill.
From Reading: Head north out of Reading on Peppard Road (B481). Follow this several villages before following signs to Watlington onto the B481. Continue on this road for about 3 miles (4.8km) and then turn right, following the sign to Christmas Common. Turn left at Christmas Common and carry straight on, heading over the M40 and turning right onto the A40. At West Wycombe, turn left up Church Lane, following the sign to Hellfire Caves and Café.
Car park
The trail starts and ends at West Wycombe Hill car park, which is free for National Trust members.
Toilet
Public toilets can be found in West Wycombe close to the village school.
Café
A café can be found at the Hellfire Caves, close to where the trail starts and ends.
Picnic area
There are benches and picnic spots on West Wycombe Hill.
Shop
There's a village shop on Chinnor Road in Bledlow Ridge, passed in Step 5.
Pub
Several pubs can be found in West Wycombe, the village where the trail starts and ends.
The route mostly follows footpaths and tracks through woodland and fields, with gates and some stiles. There are two short road sections and several steep climbs and descents. Parts of the walk can be muddy and slippery after wet weather. We recommend bringing your own map to find an alternative route around some of the stretches that may be overly muddy in the winter. Please note, with the exception of West Wycombe Hill, most of the route is not on National Trust Land. As such, the Trust does not check for hazards on most of this trail and walkers follow it at their own risk.
Total stages: 11
Total stages: 11
Start point
West Wycombe Hill car park, High Wycombe, HP14 3AH. Grid ref: SU827951
Stage 1
Walk down the road and about 165yd (150m) after the car park entrance, head through a narrow signposted gap in the hedge on your left. After 55yd (50m) bear right under some yew trees to emerge into a field. Keep left along the field edge and then enter a woodland. Continue straight for ⅔ mile (1km). Where the main path curves uphill to the left, ignore this and instead continue straight on a smaller path to reach a T-junction.
Bradenham and Saunderton Valley
Along the field, you can admire the Bradenham and Saunderton Valley below. This is one of the deepest valley cuts through the Chilterns and welcomed some of the earliest settlers - Bronze Age burial mounds and a Roman villa can be found in Saunderton. The valley formed an important communications route and the track of the London to Oxford railway opened through here in 1862.
Stage 2
Turn left at the T-junction, heading uphill to reach a crossing track at the brow of the hill. Turn right, passing a chalk pit on your right, and follow the track. You'll pass an area of woodland that's been felled and replanted on your right. Continue past Nobles Farm, joining a surfaced track until you meet a footpath crossroads sign to the right and a small area of open grassland to your left.
Stage 3
Turn left onto the first narrow footpath into woodland, beside a post. Follow this path as it leaves the woods and heads diagonally downhill towards the road at Slough Bottom Farm. Turn left onto the road, passing the farm and following the road uphill. After about 170yd (155m), turn right onto a public footpath just to the left of a wooden gate. Follow the path uphill, eventually joining a farm track, Scrubbs Lane, and then reaching Chinnor Road.
Stage 4
Turn right, walking on the verge along Chinnor Road, to reach Bledlow Ridge village. Head into the village, passing the cricket ground, the tennis club and Tudor Stud Farm on your left. About 175yd (160m) after the farm – and just before the Haw Lane junction – you'll see a signposted public bridleway on your left
Bledlow Ridge
Like most hilltop locations in the Chilterns, this ridge was inhabited later than those in neighbouring valleys, possibly not until the 14th century. Wells had to be dug very deep to reach water and the poor and heavy soils made farming difficult. The surface layer of clay with flints meant ponds could be dug - like the one you passed at the roadside - but water in them may have been intermittent.
Stage 5
Follow the public bridleway as it heads steeply downhill into Radnage Valley and curves to the left,, ignoring any paths to the right. At the end of the bridleway, turn left onto Bottom Road. After about 55yd (50m), turn right onto a signposted public bridleway at the entrance to a large field.
Stage 6
With the hedgerow on your right, follow the bridleway south-west through the fields. You'll soon start climbing up the other side of the valley and past a block of woodland on your left and then your right. At the top, you'll meet Green End Road.
Stage 7
Turn left and after 400yd (369 m), go through a small gate on the right – to the right of the Ashridge Farm entrance – following a public footpath sign. Cross the field and go through a gate on the far side. Pass between the farm buildings and a gate to join a track. When the track turns right, continue straight ahead through a small gate. Follow the edge of the field downhill to a second gate and into a holloway in Bottom Wood. At the valley floor you'll reach a bridleway.
Stage 8
Turn left along the bridleway, walking through and then out of Bottom Wood. Continue through Plomer's Bottom until you emerge into fields. Head along a track to Ham Farm. (To avoid the wet area in winter, go through the metal left-hand gate and walk along the field, parallel to the track, before rejoining it.) Pass a cattle shed and go through a gate into an open yard on your left.
Stage 9
Cross the yard and go through a small gate to the right of a large metal gate. Follow the path uphill initially with the fence on your left, then continue uphill through several gates with the fence on your left and views of Piddington back to your right. At the top of the hill, you'll meet a crossing track.
Piddington
With the rows of houses climbing up the hillside, the view to Piddington resembles a northern England mill valley. Much of the housing was built by a factory owner so his workers could live as close to work as possible. Sir George Dashwood built Piddington in 1903 around North's furniture factory. However he didn't want the factory, with its large chimney, too close to his home in West Wycombe.
Stage 10
At the crossing track, turn right across a stile into a field. At the corner of the field, at a T-junction of paths, turn right down a narrow holloway. After about 55yd (50m), follow a left-hand footpath sign up a short steep incline to enter Great Cockshoots Wood and follow the path through the wood. On leaving the wood, continue in the same direction on the path as it heads downhill and diagonally across fields to West Wycombe and Oxford Road (A40).
Stage 11
Turn left onto the footpath next to the road. At the junction, cross over two roads (signposted to Bledlow Ridge) and turn left up Church Lane, following the sign to Hellfire Caves and Café. After 220yd (201m), turn left into the Hellfire Caves entrance and then head past the National Trust West Wycombe Hill sign just to the right of the caves. This path leads up uphill towards the Dashwood Mausoleum, St Lawrence Church and the car park where the trail started and ends.
End point
West Wycombe Hill car park, High Wycombe, HP14 3AP. Grid ref: SU826951
Trail map
Ridges and bottoms trail map | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey
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