This attractive walk is centred round the straggling village of Penn, which has a place in American history through the family of that name.

Sybil Penn was governess to the future Elizabeth I and Henry VIII gave her Penn House as a wedding present. Charles II named the American state of Pennsylvania in honour of Admiral Penn, who not only served loyally but also lent the king £16000. William Penn, who lived from 1644 to 1718, was his son and the most famous member of the family. He became a Quaker at a time when they were a controversial sect and persuaded the King to give him the grant and charter of Pennsylvania to found a community based on Quaker principles. All did not go well, however, and William Penn spent time in an English debtor's prison.

Fact file

Distance:4 miles.

Map: OS Explorer 172 Chiltern Hills East.

Start: Penn pond. Grid reference 907 937

How to get there: Penn is on the B474 Hazlemere to Beaconsfield Road.

Refreshments:Wherever this walk touches a road, a pub is not far away so there is plenty of opportunity for refreshment. The Royal Standard of England (01494 673382) has a fascinating history while The Crown (01494 812640) is well positioned about two thirds of the way round the walk and has an interesting and varied menu. For refreshment before or after your walk, do not forget The Red Lion across the road from Penn pond.

The Route

1. Facing the Red Lion turn right along a minor road to the left of Penn Barn and walk along it to rejoin the B474 and continue in the same direction.

2. Some 100 yards after Beacon Hill on the right, turn right along a signed public bridleway. Be sure to take the bridleway on the left, not the drive to Little Coppice on the right. Continue ahead across a drive. Pass a stile on the right then bear right when the path forks after a further 60 yards.

3. After about half a mile the path approaches a yellow metal gate. Some 50 yards before the gate bear right, as indicated by a blue arrow on a post, to emerge on a lane at a fork. Take the right branch of the fork downhill to a footpath starting over a stile on the right. Follow the footpath for about 250 yards to a cross path and turn left, downhill. The path approaches a lane and then runs parallel with it to a stile. Cross the stile and continue along the lane in the same direction as far as The Royal Standard of England.

The Royal Standard of England is a fascinating old building. The story goes that Charles II hid in the roof when he was on the run to France after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. After the Restoration he showed his gratitude by bestowing the unique name on the inn.

4. Turn left. Immediately after the pub turn left again on a signed path. A short hedged section leads to a stile. Over the stile, continue along the left-hand side of a field to another stile into a wood.

5. Some 25 yards into the wood, the path reaches a T-junction. Turn left and follow the path through the wood to join a surfaced track after it leaves the wood. Walk along this for a good quarter of a mile.

6. Turn left over a stile onto a signed, fenced path leading to a lane. Turn right and carry on past Penn church to the main road.

The son of a churchwarden was a well-known, not to say infamous, product of Penn. Jack Shrimpton was a notorious highwayman at the start of the 18th century, preying on travellers on the London to Oxford road near what is now Gerrards Cross. He is reputed to have taken as much as £150 in a day and ended his career on the gallows in 1713.

7. Turn right past The Crown. Part of its old buildings were once a coffin-makers but now serves food. Turn left to the rear of the car park to find a path marked with a white arrow. Go ahead over a stile, follow the path through a wood and then across a field to a wide cross path in the bottom of a dip.

8. Turn left for about 250 yards, then branch right uphill to the top corner of the field. At the top bear half left to walk with a hedge on the right. At the end of the field, at Puttenham Place, turn left and then right to skirt round the grounds and then pick up a drive at the far side. This leads back to Penn pond.

Written by Jean Patefield

February 14, 2002 13:38