Chess Valley Walk — A Circular from Chorleywood
Sometimes the weather just gets it right. A nice cloudy day with good definition in the sky — not dramatic, not flat, just that soft even light that works so well in black and white. For landscape photography it was about as good as it gets without it actually raining on you, for me anyway.
I parked at Chorleywood, just up from the church, opposite the gates to Chorleywood House Estate, I spotted around three car parks, all within easy reach of the start point. Worth a mention on its own — the Chorleywood House estate is a 64-hectare local nature reserve with the River Chess running through it. The mansion itself dates back to 1822, built for a banker named John Barnes. It later came into the hands of Lady Ela Russell, daughter of the Duke of Bedford, who enlarged it and ran it as a virtually self-sufficient estate. The house is now private apartments, but the grounds are open to the public and a genuinely lovely place to start a walk from.
From the car park we crossed over the A404 and entered the estate, picking up the Chess Valley Walk signs straight away and dropping down over the hill. The estate grounds are a good introduction to the walk — open, well-managed, and you get your first sense of the valley ahead of you.
Looking out towards Blunts Wood, Chess Valley
I'll be honest, the early part of the walk cost me a few photographs. I was keeping a close eye on the GPS making sure I had the route right, and by the time I looked up the moment had gone more than once. It's not the first time and it won't be the last — good excuse for a return trip.
Following the Chess Valley Walk signs, you head towards Sarratt Bottom, walking alongside the River Chess against its flow for a decent stretch. The River Chess itself is worth knowing a bit about — it's a chalk stream, a globally rare habitat, fed by springs from the chalk hills above. The water is cold and clear all year round, and if you're lucky you might spot brown trout or even a kingfisher working the banks. Elvis found every opportunity to wade through any part he could get his paws into, which tells you all you need to know about the water quality.
River Chess
The views along this section were lovely — a broad, gentle valley with the river threading through it, the ground rising on either side into farmland and woodland. The woodlands were showing the first signs that spring isn't far away. Wild garlic was coming through on the floor, snowdrops in the sheltered spots, and a scattering of early daffodils. It lifts a winter walk considerably. There are some impressive old manor houses along the route too, sitting back behind their grounds — the kind that remind you this has been settled, farmed and lived-in land for centuries.
Eventually the route takes you towards Frogmore Meadow Nature Reserve, cutting through Mill Farm first — and it's worth slowing down here because Mill Farm is home to one of the most photographed spots on the entire Chess Valley Walk. A pair of flint-faced arched bridges cross the River Chess, and while they look ancient they're actually 18th century ornamental follies, built as part of the landscaping for the Latimer House estate when the Cavendish family, Barons Chesham, owned the valley. The landscape here was influenced by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, and these bridges were designed as eye-catchers — decorative features to enhance the view from the manor house above rather than to carry any serious load. The River Chess was deliberately split into channels here to feed the nearby water mill and create ornamental ponds, with the bridges allowing crossing between them. They're built from knapped flint, the traditional Chilterns building material, which gives them that distinctive speckled grey and white appearance. Worth every second you spend photographing them.
flint-faced bridges - Mill Farm,
From Mill Farm you join the river again for what was probably the loveliest stretch of the whole walk. Frogmore Meadows is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, managed by the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust since 1985. It covers 25 acres of traditionally managed wildflower meadow in the valley's floodplain — in summer it's apparently full of orchids and wildflowers, and the banks of the Chess here are one of the last refuges of the water vole, the UK's fastest declining mammal. In February it was obviously a bit quieter on that front, but the reserve itself was in excellent condition. Well-maintained tracks all the way through, and in places proper boardwalks had been laid where the ground gets wet — someone has clearly put real effort into keeping the paths usable while protecting the meadow, and it shows.
Just before Latimer Road, on your left, you pass the site of some old church ruins. I say ruins — there's very little to see, just an information board explaining what was once there. A mild disappointment, but it's that kind of landscape, full of things that were as much as things that are.
Crossing the bridge at Latimer Road Weir you enter the grounds of Latimer Park Farm and then into West Wood — this is roughly the halfway point. We found a fallen tree in a decent spot, sat down, and had snacks and a cuppa. One of those pauses that makes a long walk feel like it belongs to you rather than just something you're getting through.
Worth knowing as you pass through here — just above the farm sits Latimer House, now a hotel, but with one of the more extraordinary histories of any building in the Chilterns. The manor dates back to at least the 12th century, but the current building was constructed in the 1830s. During the Second World War it was requisitioned by MI5 and MI6 and operated as a top secret interrogation centre, disguised as a supply depot under the code name No.1 Distribution Centre. The cells were bugged, the grounds were bugged, even the trees had microphones hidden in them. Over 10,000 German prisoners of war passed through between 1942 and 1945, including some of Hitler's most senior generals, and over 100,000 transcripts of bugged conversations were produced. Rudolf Hess is rumoured to have been held there. The whole operation remained secret for nearly 70 years. It's now a conference hotel and you'd never know any of it looking at it from the valley below.
Proceeding through West Wood you come out at Chenies Manor House — a very grand old building that stops you in your tracks. It's a Tudor Grade I listed building, the main house built in the late 15th century by Sir John Cheyne, and the Cheyne family had owned the land since 1185. In 1526 it passed to John Russell, who rebuilt parts of it to receive royal visitors — Henry VIII came at least twice, once in 1534 with Anne Boleyn and the young Princess Elizabeth. Elizabeth I later stayed for a whole month in 1570. The Russell family eventually moved their principal seat to Woburn Abbey in the 1620s and the manor went into long decline, at one point recommended for demolition. Fortunately that advice went unheeded. It's now owned by the Macleod Matthews family and open to the public from April onwards.
Chenies Manor House
From Chenies you're crossing open fields until you reach Turveylane Wood, which sits on the Chiltern Way path. The wood takes you downhill before you turn right at the bottom and follow the valley floor again, this time on the opposite bank to where you started — passing Sarratt Mill, which like so much on this route is private property and not really visible from the path. You then enter a small woodland before coming out into the football fields, joining a lane where you turn right then left, passing what looked to be an old building converted into a nursing home — you can't miss it, there's a striking red timber-framed building in the grounds. From there it's back out onto the A404 and a short walk through Chorleywood back to the car park.
There were plenty of dog waste bins along the whole route too, which I always appreciate. I'll never understand why anyone bags it up and then hangs it from a tree branch. Just carry it and bin it. It really isn't complicated.
Latimer House
I really enjoyed this one. The Chess Valley packs an enormous amount into a circular walk — history at almost every turn, a genuinely special river, good ground underfoot and enough variety in the landscape to keep you going. I can't imagine it'll be long before Elvis and I are back, quite possibly in spring when the wild garlic is properly up and the valley feels like a completely different place.
Distance: 8.6 miles | Start/Finish: Chorleywood, opposite Chorleywood House Estate gates | OS Maps link: Click Here.