RAY RUDDICK's TOURS                   

'Great Tours of Britain & Ireland'   Javascript DHTML Drop Down Menu Powered by dhtml-menu-builder.com

    Country Walks in London's Countryside - Unique to RAY RUDDICK's Tours

For families or groups of up to 8 persons

Come and hike the lovely Chiltern Hills, a beautiful unspoilt corner of England - less than 1 hour from London!
from our 'timeless' village base we'll  set out to explore the ancient paths .. admire the Red Kites in flight ..		say 'hello' to the farm animals as we pass them by ..  admire the beauty of the Chiltern landscapes and touch the soul of the real England  ...

It's a great day out of town and the perfect way to get close to the real England; you'll be surprised just how beautiful the countryside can be so close to London, if you know where to find it, and I do!

The Chilterns are gently rolling hills covered in woodlands of beech broken by cleared areas of chalk downland which provide a haven for a wide variety of wildlife. Wildflowers found on the downland in summertime include abundant orchids and the rare Chilterns Gentian. In the area we'll be exploring, the spectacular Red Kite, a reintroduced bird of prey is often seen - and heard - for most of the year.

In the valleys we discover attractive villages with their traditional brick and flint cottages nestled around a medieval church, village green and a charming traditional village pub.

You'll be surprised by the great variety of terrain we'll be walking on: hilltop ridges with wide views; peaceful valleys sheltering those charming little villages and splendid tracks winding through magnificent stretches of beech and oak woodland.

So come breathe some fine country air, get lots of superb pictures, stretch those legs, hearts and lungs and go for it! The walks end at a charming, cosy local village Inn, complete with log fires in the colder months. It's a perfect place to reward yourselves with an excellent tasty traditional lunch - or just a sandwich, or home-made soup with a beer or coffee, the choice is yours!

Can anyone do these walks?

A basic level of fitness is necessary for the short walks, and a little more experience of hiking/walking for the longer ones. I always try to lead a walk at the speed of the slowest member of your group, however. (Which is why the times shown below are varied). There are three hikes on offer, all personally led by me, and they all include rest stops at various points of interest along the way.

Special clothing?

A good pair of strong shoes or trainers and a couple of layers of clothing are all you need as I provide each walker with a small light rucksack containing waterproofs, a bottle of water and a treat or two for the journey!

What happens?

We leave London around 9am and are up and walking in less than an hour. You'll discover that all the noise and cares of modern life rapidly begin to fade away as we walk in the footsteps of travelers of the last few thousand years!

All my walks begin and end in the same village, so if you are inexperienced hikers, go for a shorter walk initially and if everyone desires it can easily be extended as we make our way. As many of the tracks in this region overlap, the routes can be varied a great deal. (The Chilterns has literally hundreds of miles of tracks - known in Britain as public footpaths - and your writer has walked them extensively, so route variations 'on-the-hoof' are no problem!). 

If there are youngsters in our group I'll also be very happy to explain how to navigate using the large-scale maps and compass favoured by serious hikers.

We'll share stories about the peoples and history of the region at the stops along the way, at other times we'll be simply walking, enjoying a companionable silence, letting the peace and quiet of nature work its' charms.

WALK 1: 3.5 miles (two to two and a half hours walking including stops).

I meet you at your London hotel/apartment just before 9am, so that we can be on the road leaving London by 9am - thus minimising traffic, as we'll be going 'against the flow'- in order to arrive at our Chilterns village base around 10am.

I issue each member of our party with a light-weight rucksack or waist pack (fanny pack to some of you) which contains waterproofs, a drink and an energy snack, then we're off - we will normally be walking the trail by 10.30am.

The Chiltern Hills covers quite a small geographic area, and the individual hills and their valleys are small too. No climbs are higher than a few hundred feet, and most valleys are less than a mile, sometimes only half a mile wide. This makes it possible to climb up, take in the view, then descend not just one, but two or three different valleys in the course of an easy hike like this one.

What is better still though, is that there are literally hundreds of miles of trail paths criss-crossing the area so the traveler on foot is rewarded with one fine view after another! (Don't forget that camera! And I want to take this opportunity to say many thanks to my new friends the Sockwell family from Texas for sending me the superb pics!).

Here's a description of the hike:

We park in the village near the pub, and if desired you can take a quick coffee there before setting out. The village is much-loved by movie-makers (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Goodnight Mr Tom, The Vicar of Dibley) and you'll soon realise why. A gentle climb away from the village soon produces fine views and an opportunity to see the Red Kite, before we enter mature Beech woods for a dramatic contrast, in views and light, where thoughts of the days of Robin Hood are perfectly natural, although this is not Nottingham Forest! However, I'll also tell you about another group of forest dwellers, the Bodgers, who made their living in these woods until very recently .... The first of our rest stops comes up 35 to 45 minutes into the walk when we emerge from the woodlands to climb a hill and discover a remote and very beautiful medieval church.

A couple of benches in the churchyard will give us some ease and I'll briefly explain some of its features and history. On a cold day we'll do this inside. (The church is never locked!). I'll give everyone the time to make their own exploration of this special place and get those photos. Soon we're back on the trail again with more fine views in open country as we descend a lovely valley and pass through a large Country Estate, bought some years ago by an American oil billionaire. One of his most famous quotes was 'If you owe the bank $100 that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem.' He loved England and lived and died here. Who was he? Well, I'll tell you more about him and about how these great estates came about on the walk. Crossing a field gives us the chance to get those lamb pictures, perhaps horses too. We'll discuss the farming community here and I'll explain the importance of wool in the past and why you still see so many sheep and lambs in the English countryside. This is a good spot for a short rest, especially if there are younger or older members in our group. Frequent stops really make the hike so much more enjoyable for everyone, so I always encourage it.

A short steep woodland climb brings us across a field to a Ha-Ha and a fine sculpture of the American Bald Eagle. This was the home of the man who created Ford Europe over 50 years ago, Henry Ford II. The grandson of the pioneer of mass-produced automobiles. He was quite an interesting character and I'll share a tale a two about his eccentricities and achievements. 'What's a Ha-Ha?', you ask? Well, all will be explained on the hike! This house has yet another interesting connection with the USA - to an American First Lady. Later, passing the impressive home of Supermarket boss and major philanthropist, Sir David Sainsbury, I'll tell you a little about his family's success story and of Sir David's well-deserved reputation for great generosity. A couple of hours have passed now and we come to the easiest part of this ramble. It's level walking at first, then a gentle descent with another pause or two at view points.

In no time at all we're crossing the last field of this trip. Then we're hopping over a stile onto a short woodland path ... which suddenly reveals our village where it all began! The walk terminates at the village inn around 12.30pm to 1pm. We either lunch here, or if they look to be too busy (it can happen, especially at weekends) we'll take a five minute drive to a neighbouring village for an equally attractive alternative.

Finishing your lunch we depart for the drive back to London around* 2.30pm, taking a different route to enable us to check-out the attractive Thames-side towns of Marlow or Henley (a short stop is possible at either to give you the chance to explore, shop, get some photos) before arriving back at your London address around 4pm - 'ish'*.

Cost: £320 total - if you can share the trip with family or friends it can work out as little as £40 a head! (My van carries 8 passengers plus driver).

(So to summarise, the cost is the total for your party, not per person, it includes your transportation, my services as driver-guide and walk-leader, water/snacks/loan of waterproofs).

WALK 1A: 3.5 miles (two to two and a half hours walking including stops plus a fine afternoon tea in elegant surroundings).

This great option to extend your experience is to enable you to spend an hour or two visiting Henley (famous for its annual Royal Regatta) after the walk, followed by afternoon Tea** at a beautiful Thames-side Country House Hotel before returning to London early evening***.

Cost: £350 total - if you're sharing the trip with your  family or friends it can work out at less than £45 per person! (My van carries 8 passengers plus driver).   

WALK 2: 5.0 miles (two and a half to three and a half hours walking, including stops).

As above but with a longer walk - all other detail applies .. and more ...

Depart London 9am. Commence walking at 10.30am, terminating at the village around 1.00 pm to 2.00 pm. Lunch break of 1 to 1.5 hours. Departing the village around 3.00 pm to 4.00 pm, returning to London by the above route, around 5 pm*.

Cost: £350 total

(For your group, not per person. This includes transportation, my services as walk-leader, water/snacks/loan of waterproofs - if required).

WALK 3: 7 miles (three and a half to four and a half hours walking, including stops).

As above but with a longer walk - all other detail applies .. and more ...

Depart London 9am. Commence walking at 10.30am, terminating at the village around 2.00pm to 2.30pm. Lunch break of 1 to 1.5 hours. Departing the village around 4.00pm to return to London by the above route, getting back around 6pm*.

Cost: £400 total (for your group, not per person. This includes transportation, my services as walk-leader, water/snacks/loan of waterproofs - if required.

* My primary desire is to give your family a great day out and to provide what will be for many of you, a truly new experience. This makes doing things by exact timing of secondary importance - serendipity is always allowed to play its part on my tours!  

** The cost of the tea is NOT included.

*** If you are doing the afternoon tea you'll wish to change into town shoes after the hike, so please don't forget to bring them with you.

Last updated: April 26, 2010                                                                                                               TOP OF PAGE