With a pathway set in front of us to explore and the sun beaming down, it was definitely a day a great day for a walk! As we set off, the track-way led us parallel to the housing estate, not that picturesque you would imagine, but just opposite rolling fields as far as the eye could see! The further we strolled on we became curious as we spotted as a metal bridge which homed into view. Upon investigation, we discovered we were on the “Round Aylesbury Walk”, but we did not follow it on the extremely muddy field. Instead we decided to follow the path other way which took us behind another part of the housing estate. Just at the end of the muddy track we had to negotiate a very narrow wooden bridge crossing a stream on to the pavement.
 |
| From 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
It was here the path left the beautiful scenery behind. According to the signs we were “Walking Round Aylesbury”, we therefore decided to continue onwards. The traffic was that bad but, it was nice to have a high wall of green trees line either side of the road to remind us we were still out in the country! As we walked onwards a beautiful stone gate homed into view on the other side of the road. It was only much further along were we to know that this was part of “Hartwell House”. A C17th Stately home which is now hotel and spa hidden behind a large array of trees. If we had been able to glimpse the building via the gateway, we would have seen a home with a very long history notably dating back to the reign of Edward the Confessor over a thousand years ago. It is nice to know that the property itself is looked after by the National Trust, and is being preserved, it would be nice to venture in one day though!
 |
| From 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
As we continued our wander, we were both puzzled by a sign “Setup”, well at least that is what we thought it said. Upon approaching the sign closer, it actually said “Sedrup”. It was such a bizarre name, we were unsure whether we should investigate or not was it a village or?? We soon that the route had led us to the “Bugle Horn” public House, which looked very inviting indeed. This country inn had been standing here since the C18th when it was built originally as a farmhouse. It has also been used as the wine store for Hartwell House, whilst King Louis XIII of France lived there in exile! We decided not to sample some of the taverns wares, but to save this for a later date, something to look forward too!
 |
| From 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
Managing to fight the temptation of the “Bugle Horn”, we continued onwards. Again we spotted a sign for “Sedrup”, but this time it was with “Sedup lane”, presumably Sedrup was a small hamlet that was at end of the lane! In this instance we decided not to take the route to investigate but to carry on along the main road. It was to take us past some large riding stables and onwards to the village of “Stone”. Where we passed by it’s recreation ground, village hall and its of course is own pub! We maintained the same route beyond Stone Village for quite some time, eventually we were privileged to a view on the other side of the road as the trees thinned out and we left the urbanity behind us.
 |
| From 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
However, it was not too long before we were treated to a very unusual sight of a stone ruin. We had to fight our way through the undergrowth to have a good look, but we had found the remains of “Dinton Castle”. Although its official title is a castle, it is actually a Folly, built in C18th by Sir John Vanhattem. He had extensive fossil collection and passion shows clearly in this building as fossils are built into the folly walls! The “Castle” is now privately owned, but still awaiting a full restoration, so it will be nice to find out what happens to it in years to come! We spotted an “Aylesbury Ring” sign, but we through we would leave that walk for another time now! Therefore we left castle behind, and took a change in direction by turning away from the large Roadway. We found ourselves walking along a much narrower thoroughfare and no pavements to walk along, making this part of our walk particularly tricky. Fortunately for us, this was not a very busy road!
 |
| From 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
The road we had been following had taken us to place known as “Cuddington”. As soon as we could we found a way off the roadside and into a local park. As we followed it round, it was a lot smaller than we bargained for and we were soon back out by the roadside! But we soon stopped to admire a lovely thatched cottage, on the other side of the road, which we soon saw was the pub “The Crown”. The pub may have a history dating back to the C17th, but it is more known today through Midsomer Murders, where it has appeared as a local in quite a number of episodes! We crossed the road to investigate the village further. It really did it seemed like a step back in time with its thatched cottages, stone church and Tudor buildings. It felt like a very sleepy and unassuming little village, which certainly looks like nothing much happens. But the village on a number of occasions has become a place for dark deeds, village gossip and busybodies when Agatha Christies Crime Novel “Why Didn’t they Ask Evans?” and when”Midsomer Murders” have both been filmed here!
 |
| From 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
Leaving Cuddington behind, we started our walk once again along the road. This time we found ourselves heading in the direction of “Haddenham”. The roadside did not have any pavements once more so it was difficult to walk as it became quite busy at this point. We also found that we walked this part as quickly as we could as we felt we did not want to be on the stay walking along the road for that long. We soon found ourselves in “Haddenham”, however, we did not venture into far, as we felt we would leave this for another time, as we decided to end our walk for the day. To look at all the photo from the walk please feel free to click on the photo below –
 |
| 2016 – 10.02.2016 – Aylesbury – Haddenham walk |
<><
Karen's Sponsored Walks 