Fifty-five minutes from Marylebone, a loop through the beechwoods to the highest viewpoint in the Chilterns: Coombe Hill, with its monument looking out over the Vale of Aylesbury and the Prime Minister's country house below. Red kites wheel overhead the whole way.
The Chiltern Hills are a chalk escarpment north-west of London, famous for their beechwoods, flint villages and, since their reintroduction in the 1990s, red kites, now so common that they are the emblem of the hills.
From the small market town of Wendover, this loop climbs through woodland to Coombe Hill, a National Trust hilltop of open heath and chalk grassland about 260 metres high. On the edge stands a tall stone monument to the men of Buckinghamshire who died in the Boer War, and the view is immense: west over the Vale of Aylesbury towards the Cotswolds, and down to the edge of the Chequers estate, the Prime Minister's country residence.
The return follows the Ridgeway, often called Britain's oldest road, back down into Wendover for a pub lunch.
Well walked and partly waymarked. A map app helps in the woods.
Approximate profile.
From the station, cross the road and head west on the lanes and paths up towards Bacombe Hill and the woods.
Paths wind through beech and mixed woodland, Low Scrubs and the woods around Coombe Hill, carpeted with bluebells in late April.
Emerge onto the open top of Coombe Hill. The Boer War monument stands on the edge; below are the Vale of Aylesbury and the woods around Chequers.
Follow the Ridgeway National Trail, marked with an acorn, along the escarpment and down Bacombe Hill to Wendover's high street and its pubs.
Chiltern Railways runs from London Marylebone to Wendover in about 55 minutes. Check the timetable, especially on Sundays.
Paths cross parts of the estate, but the house itself is private and guarded. Stay on public footpaths and follow any signs.
Wendover has a handful of old pubs and cafés on the high street, a few minutes from the station.
London practical notes →
Stepping stones, chalk slopes and a vineyard lunch.
Chalk cliffs from Seaford to Eastbourne via Beachy Head.
Ancient pollards, Connaught Water and High Beach.
The Tamsin Trail round London's largest royal park.
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Parliament Hill's skyline view, Kenwood and the ponds.
Upriver from Richmond to the Tudor palace.
Geograph photographs via Wikimedia Commons, used under CC BY-SA 2.0.
