Three villages mark the points of this route through one of the most beautiful parts of the Chilterns.

Each has an ancient and interesting church as well as a pub known for excellent food. This route will therefore provide both physical and spiritual sustenance to the walker.

Fact file

Distance:6 miles.

Map: OS Explorer 171 Chiltern Hills West.

Start:Fingest, by St. Bartholomew's church. Grid reference 777 911

How to get there: From the B482 between Marlow and Stokenchurch, three quarters of a mile north west of Lane End, take Fingest Lane opposite The Peacock. Follow the road to Fingest, where there are a few parking places on Chequers Lane next to the church.

Refreshments:The Chequers in Fingest at the start of the walk, The Fox at Ibstone about half way round and The Bull and Butcher in Turville towards the end all offer an excellent choice for a pub lunch.

1. Walk along Chequers Lane for about half a mile.

2. Turn left on a track through double metal gates on a signed path and bridleway. Just before it enters a field after about 80 yards, bear right and follow the track along the valley bottom, gently climbing all the way. After a gate across the track, the route enters woodland. Just after some wooden posts, the bridleway, shown by a blue arrow, turns left. Continue ahead on the path, shown by a yellow arrow, to a cross track. Go over the track and bear right a few yards to carry on in the same direction. After another cross track, a track joins on the left. Some 200 yards further on, the public right of way bears right, as shown by a white arrow on a tree. It then bears left to rejoin the main track.

3. Watch for white arrows on a tree warning of a fork 20 yards further on. Bear left, soon walking along the left hand side of a field then go ahead into woods as the rutted track turns left. Press ahead at the top of the slope as the path leaves the wood to reach the road in Ibstone.

4. Turn right as far as a bridleway sign on the left, just before The Fox. Do not take the signed bridleway. Instead, cross a ditch a couple of yards before it to take an unsigned path at right angles to the road along the right hand side of open common. Follow the path round to the left to reach a cross track. Go over the track and continue ahead on a track. Bear left when this forks to reach a tiny lane.

5. Turn right for 100 yards then turn left along a drive opposite Hell Corner Cottage. Turn left again after 20 yards at a public footpath sign then bear right downhill when the path forks after 15 yards.

6. At the bottom of the hill the path meets a cross path. Turn right through the wood, not through a gate into a field. The path climbs gently to reach a fork, indicated by the usual white arrow on a tree. Bear right and carry on along the top of the slope until you reach a small church on the left. St Nicholas church is basically Norman and is overlooked by a massive yew thought to be a thousand years old. When it was new, it lay at the heart of the community but over the centuries the centre of the village has shifted leaving the church isolated about a mile south. Legend has it that at one time an attempt was made to build a new church in a more convenient spot nearer the village. The Devil got to hear of it and took a dislike to the planned position. During the course of building he removed the structure so many times the builders finally abandoned the idea. Not surprisingly, the spot is now called Hell Corner, passed earlier in the walk.

7. Turn left off the main path and walk through the churchyard to a lane. Turn left for 50 yards then right at a junction for 100 yards.

8. When the lane bends right, go ahead along a signed path. Ignore a path on the left then bear right at a fork signed by a white arrow on a tree. Pass another path on the left and after a further 85 yards go over a stile on the right. Head towards Turville, seen nestling in the valley below, to find another stile to the right of a metal gate. Go over the stile and follow the path down to another stile. Cut across the corner of a field to two more stiles and on across a field into the village.

Ellen Sadler was born in Turville 1850. She was a normal, healthy child but began to have symptoms of drowsiness and a pain in her head and was sent to Reading Hospital. After seventeen weeks she was proclaimed incurable and sent home in a bed on a cart. Her condition deteriorated further and she went into convulsions. By the time the doctor arrived she had fallen into a sleep that was to last nine years. During this time she never once moved by herself. Her jaw was clenched but she was fed three times a day with port wine and sugar using a small teapot. The liquid passed straight down her throat without any sign of swallowing.

As time went on people came from far and wide to view the phenomenon. Among them were eminent doctors who, though full of medical terms, could come up with no cure or definite explanation. They rarely left without a tip for mother. The local people were sceptical and suspected a fiddle. Nevertheless, it is hard to believe that a young girl would lie in one position without speaking or moving for nine years. And anyway, it must have cost a lot in port wine.

In 1880 her mother died and one of her sisters took over her care. Whether it was because her sister stepped up the doses of port wine to every hour and sometimes varied it with tea is not known, but Ellen's condition began to improve. She could soon sit up and talk but spoke and acted like the child she had been when she went to sleep though she was now 21. Ellen continued to live in Turville, took up bead work for a living, married and had twins.

9. Turn left. Just before The Bull and Butcher turn left on a path signed as the Chiltern Way. As it enters a field, turn right through a wooden kissing gate. Cross the field to a stile then follow the path through more woodland, going over a lane. This path leads back to Fingest where the walk started.

Written by Jean Patefield

February 14, 2002 13:38