Church Farm and Hughenden Valley | © National Trust / Hugh Mothersole

Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire

Views of the Hughenden Manor estate walk

This is a circular 5.6 mile (8.9km) walk around the Hughenden Manor estate which gives you 10 different views of the surrounding Chilterns countryside.

Following the walk

This walk is not waymarked but you can follow it on a hand-held device or print out a copy to use as you walk. Parts of the route between points 7 and 10 are not on National Trust land, and the National Trust does not check for hazards on these sections of the walk. You therefore follow this route at your own risk.

View or download a print-friendly version of this trail

Total steps: 14

Start point

National Trust car park at Hughenden Manor, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP14 4LA. Grid ref: SU859957.

Step 1

Keeping the church on your right, take the path up through the churchyard and out through a gate, then straight on up the hill. Just before you reach another gate, turn left, following the boundary of the park, passing several wooden benches, until you reach a brick wall (a ha-ha) on your right. Above this you will see the east side of Hughenden Manor through a broad gap in the trees. When you reach the ha-ha, turn around for your first view.

Hughenden Park view

The parkland at Hughenden was created in the early 19th century but Disraeli added the southern half in the 1870s. It’s largely pasture, grazed by cattle in summer. In the north-east of the park is the UK’s largest known horse chestnut tree. The 300-year-old tree has a girth of just over 24 feet (7.3 metres). There’s sometimes a small chalk stream at the bottom of the valley; it is dammed in several places to make it wider. It’s spring-fed and completely dries up at times.

Step 2

From the ha-ha, continue in the same direction to go through a metal kissing gate. Keeping Hughenden Manor's woodland garden on your right, walk past an ornamental green gate on your right and continue uphill towards a fenced-off area around some of Hughenden Manor's beehives. On your right you will soon see the South Facade and the Parterre Garden of Hughenden Manor across a low wrought-iron fence.

South Facade and Parterre Garden

Benjamin Disraeli had the original Georgian house remodelled in 1860–63 by Edward Buckton Lamb, in a Gothic Revival style, criticised at the time as 'sharp, angular and aggressive'. The gardens created by Mary Anne Disraeli help to soften its look. Her design shows an Italian influence, incorporating a pergola as long as the house, with classical statuary and urns. The National Trust has restored the garden to reflect her vision, although the pergola was lost during the war.

Step 3

Bear left, then head gently downhill away from Hughenden Manor on a wide grassy path along the top of the slope, parallel to a line of trees on your right. To your left you will see further views across Hughenden Park. After 150 metres you will pass some gravestones on your right, erected by Coningsby, Disraeli's nephew, for his pet dogs. Head towards a wide metal gate at the right-hand corner of the park. Go through (or around) the wide gate, then follow the wide track on the other side of the wide gate as it curves right, away from Middle Lodge. Continue downhill, past various animal burrows on the right-hand bank, until you meet a gate leading onto Coates Lane.

Step 4

Go through the metal gate on to Coates Lane. Take care as this road can be busy. Turn left then almost immediately right through the kissing gate. Follow the public footpath through fields beside a fence. Go through another kissing gate into Little Tinker's Wood and take the path immediately on the left. Climb up the hill until reaching a metal gate to the left through which you should see the D'Israeli Monument. Go through the gate towards the monument.

Views from the D'Israeli Monument

The monument, designed by EB Lamb in 1862, is a 15ft (4.5m) high Bath stone pillar erected by Mary Anne Disraeli in memory of her father-in-law, the literary critic and historian Isaac D'Israeli. The monument is designed to draw the eye from the garden and park across the valley and the wider landscape to the west and south-west. The views from the monument are among the finest on the estate. It is not unusual to see red kites and buzzards soaring above this peaceful vantage point.

Step 5

Return to the kissing gate then take the path ahead, left of the path on which you arrived. Continue along this fairly straight, level path through Little Tinker's Wood. Ignore a downhill path on the right. Continue until the path narrows and eventually emerges into a small cul-de-sac. The path continues straight ahead for a few more metres to reach Littleworth Road. (This short section of path can become overgrown in the summer, so you may wish to turn left to reach Littleworth Road via the cul-de-sac.)

Step 6

Turn right along Littleworth Road, following the roadside path for 270 yards (250 metres) until it meets Coates Lane. Cross Coates Lane. Take care as this road can be busy. Enter a narrow footpath following the public footpath sign between hedges, walls and fences until you reach a National Trust sign in Common Wood for the Hughenden Estate; the path widens here. Follow the path downhill to a junction of paths at the bottom of Echo Valley where there is a view of the west wing of Hughenden Manor above the distant trees.

Step 7

Turn left away from Echo Valley, heading gently uphill along the bottom of the wooded valley until you reach another junction of paths. Go straight ahead for 10 yards (10 metres) past the signpost and then bear right taking the uphill path towards Downley Common to the left of a ditch. Part-way up the slope, take the left fork (where the right fork bends sharply right to follow the edge of the ditch). On leaving the wood, bear slight left past a clump of scrubland on your right and continue uphill until you reach the cricket pitch on Downley Common. Head across the outfield towards a set of benches on the other side of the pitch. (If the grass on the edge of the common is overgrown, or if a cricket match is in progress, you can go round the cricket pitch in an anticlockwise direction via a track and a lane.)

Downley Common

In Anglo-Saxon times Downley meant a clearing on the hill (‘down’ meaning hill; ‘ley’ clearing). It is one of the few Chiltern commons that has not become wooded. For many centuries, clay, chalk and flint have been extracted here. This has left pits, called dells; some very large and deep. During WWII, the Army used the common to test and repair Churchill tanks, assembled at Broom and Wade's factory in Bellfield Road, High Wycombe.

Step 8

At the benches turn left on the road for about 43 yards (40 metres) then turn right onto a footpath just before the wooden Downley Sports Pavilion. Go through a metal kissing gate by the driveway to Blacksmiths Cottage. Keeping right, cross the paddock to another gate leading into the West Wycombe Estate. Follow a broad field-side path with a hedge on your right. About 55 yards (50 metres) after a wide gap in the hedge on your right, you will see a view across the valley to St Lawrence's Church and the Dashwood Mausoleum.

West Wycombe view

The church was completed by the mid-1760s. The tower was raised, and it was crowned with a wooden golden ball, seating 10, that was reputed to be a meeting place for the Hellfire Club. To the left of the church is the Dashwood Mausoleum. It’s an unroofed hexagonal structure, formed by linked triumphal arches, built from local flint in 1765 by John Bastard the Younger of Blandford. The Mausoleum contains urns and plaques dedicated to the Dashwood family and associates.

Step 9

Continue along the same path, into an area of woodland in the corner of the field. Continue downhill through the woodland until you reach a crossing path in the valley. Turn right, heading uphill through woodland until you reach a kissing gate. Follow the path across a field to another gate. After the gate, turn right and follow the path for 110 yards (100 metres) until you reach a pond on your left. Turn left just before the pond, and follow the path for a further 110 yards (100 metres), to a small parking area at the end of Hunts Hill Lane. Head down Hunts Hill Lane for just under 300 metres until, near the bottom of a steep hill, you reach a signposted footpath on your right into Oaks Wood. Follow this path, parallel with the boundary of the wood, until you reach a crossing path. Here turn left, following the path about 43 yards (40 metres) to a metal kissing gate. Go through the gate to a view over a grass meadow in a dry valley, with a circular copse in front of you.

Jimmy Harding's Dale

This is a typical Chiltern dry valley created during the Ice Age, about half a million years ago. The ground would have been frozen, so water from spring snowmelt and summer rain would have run over the surface, carving the valley. Fourteen thousand years ago there was no grass or trees, just grey-brown water thundering along the valley floor in summer. Tundra scrub and lichens covered the hills, with grazing herds of mammoths and woolly rhinos.

Step 10

From the gate bear right towards another gate leading into woodland. Enter Flagmore Wood and follow the path, which merges with another path from the left, until it reaches a dip. Turn left, following a clear path directly downhill. The path curves to the right towards the bottom of the slope. On reaching a T-junction, turn right along the bottom of the valley. At a crossing path, just before you reach another gate into a field, turn left up a short climb. At the T-junction at top of the slope turn right, following the signpost to Hughenden Manor and tea-room. Follow this path along the edge of Echo Valley.

Echo Valley view

There are benches along the footpath at Echo Valley, each with views towards the outskirts of High Wycombe and back at some of your route. You should be able to see the D'Israeli Monument, Little Tinker's Wood and Common Wood as well as Manor Farm. Alongside the path is a bank that is managed to encourage wild flowers including wild strawberries, milkwort, dog violets, marjoram, buttercups and primroses: Disraeli's favourite flower. The flowers attract butterflies and bees.

View across open countryside with a glimpse of the D'Israeli Monument | © National Trust / Hugh Mothersole

Step 11

Continue along the edge of Echo Valley and then straight ahead through woodland until you reach a path merging from the right. Bear slightly left here up a short, steep slope. At the top continue ahead between two brick and flint walls, taking you to the Stableyard on your left and Hughenden Manor on the right.

Hughenden Manor north façade

Hughenden Manor is best known as the former home of the great Victorian statesman and author Benjamin Disraeli, but it also has a secret wartime history. Around 100 personnel were based here, drawing up the maps for RAF bombing missions including the Dam Busters raids, and a planned hit on Hitler's secret bunker at Berchtesgaden. Skilled cartographers produced maps of Germany and other parts of Europe from aerial photography. You can discover more of this story in the house.

Step 12

Cross the Stableyard and take the road that curves uphill, passing the buildings on your right and, later, the apple orchard picnic area on your left. On reaching the visitor welcome kiosk, bear left, following the woodland path up towards the main Hughenden Manor car park at the top of the hill. At the T-junction of paths by the Dew Pond, just below the National Trust car park, turn right.

Step 13

If starting from the main Hughenden Manor car park, follow the track a few yards/metres down from the information board, then turn left by the Dew Pond. Keep the pond on your left, and follow the path until you reach a road. Cross the road and head left for 20 yards (20 metres). Opposite the entrance to the main Hughenden Manor car park, turn right onto a path indicated by a set of red and blue National Trust waymarks, with a small plantation of young trees on your left. Continue downhill into Woodcock Wood, then immediately bear left along a gentle footpath until it meets another path merging from the right. Bear left and follow the woodland path, past another set of red and blue waymarkers, until it descends to a crossing path in a distinct dip. Turn right, following the path downhill to a gate. Go through the gate to see a fine view over Hughenden Valley and Church Farm.

Church Farm and Hughenden Valley view

The late 18th-century buildings at Church Farm, including most of the barns and outbuildings, have been converted into modern houses, although they retain their flint with brick walls, tile roofs, and brick chimneys. This view is typical of the Chiltern Hills, with wooded hilltops and smooth, rounded valley slopes divided by hedgerows into fields used for arable and pastoral farming. This is an excellent location to enjoy the view with sheep or cattle grazing below.

Step 14

From the viewpoint, head directly downhill towards Church Farm, turning right when you reach a fence at the bottom of the slope. Follow the path through a gate into an adjacent field. Keeping the field boundary on your left, head for another metal gate, which takes you back to the National Trust car park at St Michael and All Angels Church.

St Michael and All Angels Church

The church dates from the 12th century, and was restored and extended between 1874 and 1875 by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The oldest part is the medieval chancel. Behind the pulpit, on the north wall of the chancel, is the monument erected by Queen Victoria to Disraeli. Benjamin and Mary Anne Disraelis’ grave is at the east wall of the church. Royal protocol did not permit the queen to attend Benjamin Disraeli’s private funeral, but she visited the tomb a few days later.

End point

National Trust car park at Hughenden Manor, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP14 4LA. Grid ref: SU859957.

Trail map

Map of Hughenden Manor estate views walk | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey

The Disraeli Monument at Hughenden, Buckinghamshire

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High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP14 4LA

01494755565

hughenden@nationaltrust.org.uk

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