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Home > Walks > Region > South East England > Chilterns Return to Walks

Chalk and water

A journey of discovery up and down the Chiltern Hills

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This walk explores two adjacent but very different environments: the dry chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills and the rich clay Vale of Oxfordshire.

Find out how chalk and water have had a major influence on this landscape in terms of the flora and fauna, as well as human settlements and the use of land. 

Discover a natural world of beech woods and juniper scrub, dry valleys and freshwater springs, wildflowers and butterflies, yellow ants and red kites.

Learn more about human activities in the area including a pre-historic settlement and a medieval castle, lords of the manor and peasant villagers, making a living from fields and woods, an ancient pathway and a modern motorway.

Be prepared for beautiful sights, spectaular views and some surprising stories.

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Walk Info

Distance:

4 ½ miles

Level:
A steep descent and ascent

tooltipA steep descent and ascent

Suitable for:
Wildflowers, butterflies, birds and anthills to interest children

tooltipWildflowers, butterflies, birds and anthills to interest children

Keep dogs on a lead on roads and grazing land

tooltipKeep dogs on a lead on roads and grazing land

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Region:
South East England
Setting:
Countryside
Landscape:
Shaping the landscape Preserving the landscape Working landscapes
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Start:
Cowleaze Wood car park
Finish:
Cowleaze Wood car park
Getting there:

tooltip3 miles from Junction 5 on M40

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Chilterns

Bluebells in Cowleaze Wood
Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain

Chilterns

Enjoy views over the Vale of Oxfordshire
Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain

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Route map

Select pins on the map to find out more about each point of interest on the walk

Downloads

Download all the walk resources or select individual items below

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all walk resources

All files, total size: 33.13 MB

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Photo Gallery

Here is a selection of things that you might see on the walk - click on an image to view full size

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The fertile soil in the Vale of Oxfordshire is extensively for growing crops such as wheat Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Lewknor village school – how many other primary schools have a thatched roof? Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Grazing by Beulah speckle-faced sheep maintains the chalk grassland Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The name of this village derives from the Anglo Saxon Leofecanoran, which means Leofeca's slope Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Juniper trees are declining in Britain, with strongholds in the north and west of the Scottish Highlands and in the Chilterns Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
There are plenty of opportunities on this walk to stop and enjoy the panoramic views Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Macclesfield Psalter, a fourteenth century book of psalms, formerly in the library at Shirburn Castle   Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
After a reintroduction programme, there are now over 140 breeding pairs of red kite in the Chilterns Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Knapp, thought to have been the meeting place for the Hundred of Lewknor in the Saxon era Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Leathern Bottel pub in Lewknor dates back 450 years Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
These mounds are yellow meadow ant nests and each contains a network of galleries within which the ants tend eggs, larvae and pupae Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Saxons divided the land into Hundreds, which was calculated as having enough land to support one hundred households Reproduced from A History of the County of Oxford, Vol. VIII (Oxford University Press, 1964) p1, by permission of the Executive Editor
The clock of Lewknor Church has a 35 foot long pendulum, which takes 3 seconds to tick Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Coppicing is a method of sustainable woodland management Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The fields at the base of the chalk escarpment are covered with lumps of flint  Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Stokenchurch Gap is a motorway that cuts through the chalk escarpment Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Flint nodules are found within chalk and limestone rock although there are several theories as to how they formed Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
For hundreds of years, juniper berries have been used as an herbal remedy, in cooking and to flavour gin Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Many buildings in the Chilterns are made of brick and flint  Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Plan of a fictional mediaeval manor from Shepherd’s Historical Atlas (1923) Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
Underneath the modern cladding of this barn is a timber frame thought to date back to the fourteenth century Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
A bodger's hovel in the beech woods (1958) By kind permission of The Chiltern Society PhotoGroup
Oilseed Rape (brassica napus) is grown in rotation with wheat and beans Tilo Hauke, Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
Yellow meadow ant colonies thrive in this area because the ground is not disturbed by farming operations or livestock trampling Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Model Farm in Shirburn was owned by the Sixth Earl of Macclesfield, who had a reputation as an experimental farmer Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Around half of all the bluebells in the world can be found in Britain Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Shirburn Castle dates back to the fourteenth century  © Air Frame Photography 
Stop off at the Leathern Bottel pub in Lewknor for lunch Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Owen Dean, the last itinerant Chilterns chair bodger (1958) By kind permission of The Chiltern Society PhotoGroup
Yellow meadow ant (Lasius flavus) Sarefo, Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
Springs at the base of the chalk escarpment feed the watercress beds in Ewelme Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Manor House is one of three manor houses in the village of Lewknor Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The motorway cutting split a nature reserve in two but is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest for its geological significance Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Flint is very hard so was used to make axes and scraping tools in the Stone Age From A Book of Dartmoor  by S Baring-Gould (1900)
Chiltern Gentian (Gentianella germanica), the county flower of Buckinghamshire  Oswald Engelhardt, Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
Enjoy spectacular views over the Vale of Oxfordshire from the Chilterns Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Natural England keeps a flock of around 300 sheep on the Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
The Ridgeway National Trail along the chalk escarpment follows one of England’s many ancient paths, the Icknield Way Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Visit Cowleaze Wood in late April or early May for a spectacular show of native bluebells Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
St Margaret’s Church in Lewknor dates back to the twelfth century Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
People came from all over the country to see the innovative buildings and new machines at the Model Farm in Shirburn  Illustrated London News (1857)
Look out for buzzards and other birds of prey on this walk Aviceda, Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
The closer you get to the escarpment, the more flint is in the soil Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield and Lord Chancellor of England bought Shirburn Castle in 1716 and turned it into a country house  Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1712), Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons License)
St Margaret’s Church and lychgate in Lewknor Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Chair parts produced by hand by a bodger (1958) By kind permission of The Chiltern Society PhotoGroup
The Victorian era was the heyday of watercress, when it was transported from Ewelme to London by train Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain
Moor Court Manor in Lewknor is surrounded by a moat, which was designed to deter thieves Mike Jackson © RGS-IBG Discovering Britain

Experiences

Find out what other people said about this walk

Chalk and Water is a great walk for families. There is plenty to interest children, from the contrasting chalk and flinty terrain with its many wild flowers to the animal life whose evidence can be traced along the route.

Joanna Wells, London

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Learn more

Find out more about the walk story and places of interest along the route

External links open in a new window


AntBlog

The Yellow Meadow Ant

http://www.antblog.co.uk/species/lasiusflavus.htm

Birds of Britain

Red Kite

http://www.birdsofbritain.co.uk/features/red-kite2.asp

British Listed Buildings

Model Farm, Covered Yards and Flanking Buildings, Shirburn, Oxfordshire

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-248989-model-farm-covered-yards-and-flanking-bu

Cambridge University Library

Exhibition: “Footprints of the Lion: Isaac Newton at work”

http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/exhibitions/Footprints_of_the_Lion/index.html

The Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Cowleaze Wood

http://www.chilternsaonb.org/ccbmaps/423/137/cowleaze-wood.html

Ewelme Watercress Beds and Local Nature Reserve

http://www.ewelmewatercressbeds.org

The Fitzwilliam Museum

The Macclesfield Psalter

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery/macclesfield/

Google videos

Aerial video of Shirburn Castle with moat

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4528628028936102185

The Leathern Bottle, Lewknor

http://www.theleathernbottle.co.uk/

London Evening Standard

"Who's laughing now?" Article about the Earl of Macclesfield (18 Aug 2004)

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-12638602-whos-laughing-now.do

Natural England

Aston Rowant Natural Nature Reserve

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/conservation/designatedareas/nnr/1006007.aspx

The Royal Society notes and records

The scientific library of the earls of Macclesfield

http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/60/1/5.full

RSPB

Birds of prey: which birds are threatened? Red kits – a glorious success

http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/birdsofprey/threatened.aspx

The Telegraph

“Feud forces sale of 'intellectual time capsule'” Article about the Earl of Macclesfield (20 Feb 2004)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1454857/Feud-forces-sale-of-intellectual-time-capsule.html

BBC Nature

Chalk grassland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats/Calcareous_grassland

British History Online

Parish of Lewknor

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63819

British Listed Buildings

Model Farm, Engine House and Attached Buildings, Shirburn, Oxfordshire

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-248990-model-farm-engine-house-and-attached-bui

The Chiltern Society Photogroup

Last Chiltern Chair Bodger

http://www.chilternphoto.org.uk/Special-Collections/Chair-Bodger

Discovering Fossils

Flint formation, uses and fossils

http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/flint_formation_fossils.htm

Field Farm, Lewknor

http://www.fieldfarm.co.uk/

Gatehouse (online gazetteer and bibliography of medieval castles, fortifications and palaces)

Shirburn Castle

http://homepage.mac.com/philipdavis/English%20sites/2967.html

Joint Nature Conservation Committee

Juniperus communis formations on heaths or calcareous grasslands

http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/protectedsites/sacselection/habitat.asp?FeatureIntCode=H5130

Lewknor Village

http://www.lewknor.org.uk/

National Trails

The Ridgeway National Trail

http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/ridgeway/

Natural History Museum

Exploring British wildlife: bluebells

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/british-natural-history/survey-bluebells/index.html

RSPB

Bird guide: Red kite

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/redkite/index.aspx

Tastings

All about Gin

http://www.tastings.com/spirits/gin.html

Credits

The RGS-IBG would like to thank the following people and organisations for their assistance in producing this Discovering Britain walk

 

Gary Gray and Mike Jackson for creating the walk and providing photographs

 

Jenny Lunn for editing the walk materials

 

Caroline Millar for editing the audio commentary

 

Damien Dyer of Air Frame Photography (www.airframephotography.com) for kind permission to use his aerial image of Shirburn Castle

 

Victoria County History (www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk) for kind permission to reproduce the map of the Lewknor Hundred

 

The Chiltern Society PhotoGroup (www.chilternphoto.org.uk) for kind permission to use their images of the last Chiltern bodger

 

Joanna Wells and her family for testing the walk on a very wet bank holiday

thank you
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