Walking in the Thames Valley. Steve Davison

road to the right. Shortly after passing St Nicholas’ Church, bear left at the junction and left again at the next; The Cross Keys Inn is about 400m off to the right.

      Although there has been a church at Upper Chute since Norman times, St Nicholas’ Church was entirely rebuilt in the 1860s. The oldest feature is the mid-Norman font (key available locally – details in the porch – if the church is locked).

      Continue along Malthouse Lane, and 200m after the junction with Hookwood Lane turn half-right along a path between the fields, keeping ahead along the enclosed path, passing through some trees. Go left at the Y-junction, with gardens on the right, to cross a stile and turn left along the road. Bear right at The Hatchet Inn in Lower Chute.

      The Chute hamlets lie in the hilly and relatively deserted border country between Wiltshire and Hampshire. The parishes of Chute and Chute Forest can be traced back to Norman times, and it is believed that the ancient meaning of Chute is ‘wood’ or ‘forest’. Today there are five small hamlets: Upper and Lower Chute (both with pubs), Chute Standen, Chute Forest and Chute Cadley, which developed around what were once farms or country houses.

      3 SU311532 Continue along the road and bear left through the hamlet. Shortly after passing two lanes on the left and following the road slightly to the right, turn left along a lane passing the houses of Chute Cadley. Keep ahead along the track passing some woodland, cross a stile and then gently climb through the long field, keeping close to the left-hand boundary and Fisher’s Hanger. Cross the stile and continue to climb through Conholt Park. At the top bear slightly right to reach a stile and road junction (shorter walk rejoins here – SU322552).

      Once home to relatives of the Dukes of Wellington, Conholt House was more recently the home of Dutch tycoon Paul van Vlissingen. In 1977 he bought the remote and mountainous Letterewe Estate in Wester Ross; the access he granted to ramblers became a blueprint for subsequent national agreements on access to wild land.

      The Hatchet Inn in Lower Chute

      Continue straight on in a northeasterly direction along the road for 450m and bear right at the junction for 50m. Turn half-left through a gate and along a path, keeping close to the right-hand field edge. Cross the stile and through the trees, following the path downhill and along the right-hand edge of Boats Copse to eventually reach the road in Vernham Dean; The George Inn is a short distance to the right.

      4 SU339505 Turn left along the road and, where it bends to the right, keep ahead over the stile and through the field to cross another stile. Bear slightly right across Conholt Hill road and follow the track between the houses to reach a gate. Continue uphill, keeping close to the fence on the right, and follow it round to the left. On reaching the gate at the top corner of the field, where a track comes up from Warren Cottages on the left, turn right for a few metres through the trees to cross a stile next to a gate. Follow the track up the right side of the field to the ramparts of Fosbury Hillfort (open access land), situated on the southwest end of Haydown Hill.

      Fosbury Camp is a fine example of an oval bivallate (two concentric banks and ditches) Iron Age hillfort. There’s not much to be seen on the tree-covered northern side, but the earthworks on the southwest side (overlooking the valley) are well pronounced, with a commanding view. Just inside the fort is a small dewpond, although the name is misleading: the pond is watertight and fills with rainwater run-off, not dew.

      Follow the rampart round to the right to reach the area of conifers growing inside the fort. Turn right, cross a stile and follow a track through the earthworks before bearing left through Oakhill Wood to reach Fosbury Farm, with extensive views northeast towards Walbury Hill.

      5 SU314571 Continue west past the farm, ignoring the track (Tunball Lane) on the right, and after 500m go through a gate and straight over the cross-tracks; to the left is the combe, known as The Slay. Continue along the track, passing the track to Down Barn on the left, to reach a belt of trees. Keep ahead for 400m and cross over the road – Chute Causeway. Go through a gate and follow the path across the field next to the ancient ditch; on the left are the remains of a Neolithic long barrow. Continue downhill, staying close to the fence on the left, and at the fence corner head for the right-hand side of the small plantation at the bottom of the hill. Just after the trees, pass to the right of the small pond and follow the track up a slight rise and through a gate, then follow the road back to Tidcombe.

      The view from the ramparts of Fosbury hillfort

      Haydown Hill looking west near The Slay

WALK 5

      Faringdon’s Folly

Start/Finish	Market Place, Faringdon (SU289956); long-stay car parking in Gloucester Street
Distance	12 miles (19.3km) or 7 miles (11.3km)
Grade	2
Time	5 hours or 3¼ hours
Maps	OS Explorer 170/Landrangers 163 and 174
Refreshments	Faringdon – selection of pubs, cafés and shops; Little Coxwell – Eagle Tavern (01367 240120); Littleworth – The Snooty Fox (01367 240549)
Transport	Bus links to Swindon and Oxford
Note	This route can be shortened by missing out Littleworth.

      This circular walk starts in the picturesque town of Farindgon and heads over Badbury Hill, crowned with the earthworks of an Iron Age hillfort, before descending to Great Coxwell and the Great Barn, one of finest monastic barns in the country. The route then passes through Little Coxwell to reach the little village of Littleworth. From here it’s an easy walk along a broad ridge back to Faringdon passing The Folly, which offers fantastic panoramic views south to the Lambourn Downs including White Horse Hill and north across the Thames Valley and Oxfordshire plain.

      At the centre of Faringdon is the Market Place, its unusual 17th-century Town Hall surrounded by interesting old buildings including the Crown Hotel, a 16th-century coaching inn. Just to the north of the Market Place is All Saints Church dating mainly from the 12th and 13th centuries, with a fine Norman doorway and some interesting monuments. In 1864 the Faringdon Railway Company built a single-track railway line, laid to Brunel’s unique 7ft gauge, from Uffington Junction to Faringdon. The line closed to all rail traffic in 1963.

      1 SU289956 From the Market Place go along the A417 passing the Red Lion, and bear right along Gloucester Street. At the mini-roundabout go right (A417) and then left along Canada Lane and, where the road bends left, keep ahead along a track passing some houses. Just before the gate, turn right down through the trees to a kissing gate. Walk diagonally left across the field, keeping left of a large sycamore tree; continue along the left field edge. At the corner go through two kissing gates either side of a footbridge and take the left of two paths over the field to a kissing gate in the corner. Turn right and left to cross a footbridge and go through a kissing gate; continue diagonally across the field to a stile and gate. Turn left along a bridleway up through the field, with the hedge on the left to reach a gate. Continue up to pass another gate and keep ahead, passing Badbury Hill House on the right, to reach a gate.

      Faringdon’s 17th-century town hall

      2 SU266947 Turn right down the lane and left at the wood along a path for Badbury Hill, firstly inside the wood and later inside the field close to the right-hand field edge. Cross a stile and continue through the wood to another stile, turn left up the path, later a track skirting round the earthworks of Badbury Hill.

      Badbury Hill is the site of an Iron Age hillfort, probably dating from 600BC, and is crowned with a stand of beech trees, and a carpet of bluebells in the spring.

      Continue through the car park and ahead along the road (left) for 200m; turn right at the footpath