The Royal Oak, Marlow Common and Homefield Wood Walk

Leave the pub car park via the vehicle entrance and turn left along the front of the pub. As you reach the duck pond ahead, cross over the road with care to join the narrow path running along the road's right-hand grass verge. You are now following part of the Chiltern Way long distance path, but more about that later... Follow the road as it swings right and then turn left into the side road signed to Bovingdon Green. Follow this narrow lane lined with wooden posts which leads you through the heart of the village. At the T-junction with houses ahead, turn right and follow this lane which swings left to become a stone track passing Cherry Tree Barn on the right. The path passes Cherry Tree Farm, swings right and then narrows to become a fenced path with horse paddocks each side. Just a little way along, look for a metal kissing gate on the right, marking a junction of paths. Fork right through the kissing gate into the horse paddock and cross the corner of the field to reach another metal kissing gate. Go through this and cross the second horse paddock in the same direction to reach the far right-hand corner. Pass through the v-shaped squeeze gap and keep ahead on the path through the belt of woodland (which is awash with bluebells in the spring). As you emerge from the trees, simply keep ahead along the narrow fenced footpath and this will lead you to a stone vehicle track. Keep ahead along this and you will come to a junction with the road, with the wooden kissing gate at the edge of Marlow Common directly opposite.

Cross the road and go through the gate to enter the common. You will see an information board on the left giving you more details about the site. Marlow Common is one of the many ancient commons in the Chilterns and, as recently as the 1800s, was grazing land. At that time it would have been an open area of grass, heather and scattered shrub with only a few trees. Since grazing ceased the woodland has developed. Keep straight ahead on the path leading into the woodland and at the first crossroads turn right. The path leads you past a small glade and bench on the left and just a few yards later you will come to an information board on the right. This sits directly in front of some of the old clay pits that operated on the common in the 1820s. The pits and kilns were used to produce bricks, tiles and quality terracotta ware. Simply keep ahead on the main path which swings left to reach a crossroads. Keep ahead and then keep ahead again at the next junction. The path crosses a small glade with a house visible to the left and, a few paces later, you will reach a fork. Take the left-hand branch, heading towards an old lamppost and white gate. Turn left immediately before the gate to join the tarmac track with houses on the right, which soon becomes a stone track through the woodland edge. Continue just until you reach a tall fingerpost and information board on the left. Turn right here to leave the common through a wooden gate, signed as a public footpath. The path leads you downhill between fences, through the narrow belt of Lord's Wood, to reach a stile.

Cross the stile to enter the hillside horse paddock. Walk diagonally right, heading for the barns visible in the valley bottom. You will find a stile in the bottom boundary, just to the left of the barns. Cross this stile and the next one directly ahead to enter a hillside pasture (which may be holding cattle). Walk directly ahead, heading uphill along the right-hand boundary of this large hillside field. A stile at the top of the field leads you onto a path enclosed between garden fences, which in turn leads you out to a T-junction with a quiet lane in Lower Woodend. Turn right along the road taking care of any occasional traffic. When you come to a small stone lay-by on the left, turn left through the gap in the hedge (signed as a public footpath) to enter a large crop field, with a pond on your right. Cross this field at about 2 o'clock heading for the clump of trees which conceal a red brick house, visible just beyond the far hedge line. As you reach this hedge line, a stile leads you out to the tarmac access lane for the red brick property, Arbon, just to your right.

Cross the road and walk straight ahead through the hedge gap to reach the corner of a crop field. Walk ahead, following the line of the hedge on the right. After just 50 yards, fork right onto the signed footpath which leads you between hedges and then continue ahead along the left-hand edge of this next crop field. Stay on the field edge path as it swings right and then left and leads you down to reach a corner of woodland. Fork left here to join the footpath into Homefield Wood. Follow the signed public footpath which leads you first steeply downhill and then steeply back uphill. The path now levels off and leads you to a crossroads with a grass track. Go straight ahead, continuing on the narrow public footpath. Some distance further you will come to a crossroads with a second grass track, again keep straight ahead on the narrow winding footpath. The path leads you past a fenced section of woodland on the left, which is a nature reserve managed by Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust. Woodland and grassland have existed on this warm slope for at least 200 years, though forestry work has created many changes. Today Homefield Wood hosts a pine plantation as well as mixed broadleaf woodland including some older specimens of coppiced trees. The diversity of habitat supports a healthy wildlife population and as a result the area is often thronging with birdsong. The fenced reserve is made up of beech, ash, sycamore and whitebeam with glades and open grassland. Wild orchids flourish in both the woodland and the grassland and tawny owls can often by heard calling during the day. Fallow, muntjac and roe deer are also regular visitors to the reserve. You will come to a T-junction with a stone track, bear left continuing downhill. At the bottom of the slope you will come to a T-junction with another stone vehicle track. Turn left along this and you are once again following the Chiltern Way long-distance path. In fact, this long distance path will be your route all the way back to The Royal Oak.

The stone track leads past a vehicle barrier and out to a T-junction with the road. Turn right along the road (taking care of traffic) and, where the road bends right, turn left to join the footpath (signed as the Chiltern Way). The Chiltern Way is a 172 mile circular footpath which was created by the Chiltern Society as a millennium project. The meandering route takes in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and many of the local villages and towns. Follow this pretty fenced path through the valley dip and then swinging right (past a disused stile) to become a long, straight, level path running with the valley bottom to the right. Eventually the path leads you through a gateway to enter Pullingshill Wood, a section of woodland managed by The Woodland Trust. Pullingshill Wood has many claims to fame. It is renowned for the rare First World War practice trenches which were built by various regiments stationed nearby at Bovingdon Green during the early years of the war. More recently, it featured in the 1996 film 101 Dalmatians. Although the woods put in a sterling performance, the weather did not, and snow machines had to be brought in to give the wintry weather the script called for!

Walk directly ahead on the path which leads you fairly steeply uphill. Once over the brow of the hill, keep left at the fork and pass between laid tree trunks to reach a crossroads with a quiet tarmac lane. (NOTE: Just before this lane you will see a waymarker post. If you wish to visit the World War I trenches turn right along the path, with the road to the left, and you will come to the trenches on the right.) Cross the road and go straight ahead into the next section of woodland, still following the Chiltern Way. Just a short distance into the woodland you will come to a waymarker post, turn RIGHT here. Follow the path winding along with a raised bank supporting a line of beech trees running on the left. You will emerge alongside a gap within this bank. Turn left through the gap and then keep ahead on the woodland path marked with white arrows on the tree trunks. Further along you will come to another waymarker post for the Chiltern Way, turn LEFT here and then at the next junction of paths keep straight ahead. Further along the path continues with a fence on the left and then becomes a fenced path between horse paddocks. Continue ahead passing through one kissing gate and two squeeze gaps. You may now recognise this stretch of path from your outward leg. From this point you will be retracing your steps back to the pub. To do this, keep ahead on the path which becomes a track and leads you back into the centre of Bovingdon Green. At the grass island, turn left along the lane through the centre of the green. As you approach the junction with the main road, pass to the right of the coronation bench, cross over the main road and turn right along the grass verge path. After just a short distance you will come to the Royal Oak on the right for some well earned hospitality.