The Chess Valley

Date: Sunday 26th February
Route: Latimer Circular through woodlands and villages of the Chess Valley
Distance: 9.5 miles

As we do rather a lot of wandering around the Chilterns and Thames Valley, it's not often that we discover a walk that he haven't at least partially completed previously - finding a wholly unknown route and tackling it in brilliant sunshine made today one of the best walking days of the year so far.

The walk comes from the Pathfinder Guide and sets off from a free car park on the road between Little Chalfont and Latimer. It is a winning combination of pretty, Miss Marple-esque villages (with a much higher pub count than usual), manor houses, woodlands, hillside views and riverside walking. The area is popular with walkers, cyclists and horse-riders, but is surprisingly quiet, given how easy it is to access it from London.

The start of the walk sees you crossing the river Chess and passing through the village of Latimer before heading up onto the first, very chalky, wooded hillside and the first great views over the valley. The very straightforward path then heads out of the woods, between hedges and into the village of Flaunden, whose church is visible from a distance. More easy paths and wooded areas follow - although there are a few ascents and descents to contend with, these are not too strenuous.

After the popular path alongside Chipperfield Common, the Cart & Horses pub at Commonwood is a welcoming place to stop for food or drink - and today it was even warm enough to sit in their large garden - before continuing on to the village of Sarratt (with another picturesque pub and a church that appeared in "Four Weddings and a Funeral") and the path across fields and over the hillside to Church End.

Yet more lovely views and a tree-lined path lead back downhill and to the river Chess, then the next section of the walk follows the Chess Valley Walk on a well-maintained and busy path. The river Chess provides the perfect growing conditions for watercress and you can see the watercress beds alongside the path.

Once over the river and through more woods, the last ascent of the walk is into the village of Chenies, which boasts an impressive Tudor manor house (open to visit in the summer), with fantastic twisted chimneys, before the path leads back to the car park, with yet more great valley views and woods en route.

This is a highly recommended walk which I'm sure we will repeat time and again.