Walks

Walking in the Woods and through the Villages

Penn and Tylers Green is a wonderful area to discover on foot. Taking one’s time to understand the environment, be that natural one in the woods or the built environment in the villages adds a new dimension to your day and helps to appreciate how fortunate we are to live, work, play or visit here.

Below are a selection of walks which take you around the local area.

Common Wood

The closest woods for walking locally are Common Wood, managed by the Residents Society. The woods are accessed off Gravelly Way, Common Wood Lane and Hazlemere Road and there are a long (4km) and short (1km) walks marked out.

Please keep to the marked paths and take your litter home to protect this ancient woodland.

Download the Common Wood map

Penn House Estate Walks

The Penn Estate consists of approximately 1100 acres of farmland and 450 acres of woodland. The woodlands range from small blocks of one acre, to blocks of eighty acres. Some of the smaller woodlands were planted as game coverts and date from the 19th century when game shooting was a major pastime of the owners of the estate. The five different walks, ranging from 1 to 15 miles, are detailed on the map.

Download the Penn Estate map

Penn Wood Walk

In an area renowned for its rich stock of ancient woodland, Penn Wood, at its very heart, stands out as one of the largest. The wood forms part of a mosaic of semi-natural ancient woodland and wood pasture, grassland and scrub, rich in wildlife and flora including at least 10 plants not commonly found in the county. It has a good bird population and a number of nationally scarce invertebrates.

Some of its older inhabitants include the remains of an ancient beech and a veteran oak, along with a scattering of trees dating back more than 200 years. Penn Wood is well served with a network of paths, and a map can be downloaded from the Chilterns AONB site below.

Download the Penn Wood map (from the Chiltern Society)

A walk with views to the south

‘When the trees are losing their leaves, a walk to the south of the village is rewarded by superb views over the Thames Valley and into Berkshire. This walk is around 6 miles long with a few ups and downs and plenty of stiles. There is a pub, the Royal Standard, after about 4 miles so there are two sensible ways to tackle the walk: use the top of every stile as a seat from which to admire the views and take some money for a revictualling stop!’

You can find this and other local walks on the Outdoor Active site.

Visit Outdoor Active

Gomms Wood

Gomms Wood is found off Cock Lane to the south of Tylers Green.

This 34 acre (13.7 hectare) mixed woodland was declared a Local Wildlife Site in 2008.
Gomm’s Wood consists of a rich, dynamic mosaic of scrub, hazel coppice, young & mature woodland plus areas of valuable and increasingly rare chalk grassland.

Thank you to the Chiltern Rangers for the map.

Download the Gomm Wood Map

Conservation Area Walk

Download the Conservation Area Map

Penn & Tylers Green Conservation Area starts from the original village centre, around Holy Trinity Church. There is much useful information in the red telephone box. Then go west along Church Road, past Beacon Hill and right through to Widmer Pond, the Front & Back Commons and St Margaret’s Church.

Walking from one end to the other, using this map as a guide enables one to understand the development of the area, with the assistance of the key.

This map is in the centre pages of Mansions & Madhouses, by our own local historian, Miles Green. The book is available for sale.

Taking the book with you as you walk is a wonderful way of seeing the village in a very different, and much better informed light.

Next: Common Wood