East Hendred
East Hendred is a large village at the foot of the downs, with plenty of old houses and three pubs. From the village shop on the High Street we walk north to Chapel Square, where Champs Chapel, built in 1453, is now a small village museum. It is worth checking its opening days if you want to look inside. We fork left up Chapel Square, go left at the Orchard Lane junction and bear left into Mill Lane, past the playground.
Across the brooks to West Hendred
A footpath on the left leaves Mill Lane and crosses streams and fields westwards to West Hendred. The parish council’s route suggests an optional detour left down Mill Lane to see a historic barn. At West Hendred we reach The Greenway and turn right, and after the houses at Bankside we take the footpath on the left. It crosses open fields and passes through a belt of woodland to Ardington.
Ardington
We turn right along Ardington’s High Street and left down Well Street past Holy Trinity church. The Boar’s Head pub is close by. Much of the land here forms part of the Lockinge estate. We cross the Ardington Brook, then turn left on the footpath that follows the stream past Ardington House, a Georgian house of 1721 set in parkland.
Back via West Hendred church
The path runs east across the fields and brings us into West Hendred through the churchyard of Holy Trinity, beside the Ginge Brook. We come out on Ginge Road, turn left, and look for the footpath on the right by a white house. It leads across the fields back to East Hendred near the school. We finish along the village streets to the High Street, where the pubs are within a few minutes’ walk.
What to look out for
The Ginge Brook and the Ardington Brook are small streams fed from the chalk. Look for grey wagtails, moorhens and, now and then, a kingfisher. The woodland belt and hedgerows hold chiffchaffs and blackcaps from April, and long-tailed tits and goldcrests in winter. Red kites drift over the fields all year. All three villages are spring-line settlements, strung out where water breaks out at the foot of the chalk. Notice how the brooks are clearest and fastest near their sources in summer, and how the paths between the villages follow the lines of the streams.
Before you go
This is a good choice when the downs are wet, windy or busy, because it stays low and sheltered. OS Explorer 170 covers it; the parish council’s description is handy to print. Wear boots in winter, when the field paths get sticky. Some pubs close in the afternoon, so check times if you are planning lunch.
Make it longer or shorter
For a hillier variant, follow the Pendon Museum’s ‘Walk around the Hendreds’, which climbs south from East Hendred church to a byway above the village, crosses the Ginge Brook and returns via Ardington and West Hendred (about 4½ miles). For a full day, join our Ardington, Lockinge and Ridgeway walk at Ardington. To shorten this one, turn back at West Hendred church.
