Hurley, Ashley Hill and the Dew Drop Inn

The walk skirts the site of the priory along Mill Lane. At the end of the lane is a footbridge across a side channel of the river. To the right, a variety of boats ranging from enclosed punts to venerable single funnel steamers bob about in a little haven in front of a quiet old boatyard, one of the view left along the river which still builds wooden craft.

Ahead is Hurley Lock, occupying one of the many wooded islets which divide this stretch of the Thames into several channels. You walk past the lock and regain the south bank of the river via a high wooden bridge. The middle of this bridge is an excellent vantage point from which to observe the river, the Buckinghamshire Hills to the north, and to the South the chalk downlands of Berkshire, which are clad here and there with some fine groves of beech and oak.

Following the river upstream past a pair of unusual boathouses, the path passes through some lush meadows fringed with tall reeds. Water mint blooms at the waters edge and Canada geese wheel around in front of the long weir. You follow this lovely bankside walk for one and a half miles. Then you turn up a lane to the old Henley turnpike road, now the A4130, and the flower decked Black Boys Inn.

Opposite the inn, a bridlepath bordered with hedgerows steadily ascends the gentle hills rising from the river valley. Note the fields to the left - they were once the trial fields of the Grassland Research Institute. Continuing on, As you gain height, a dry valley runs parallel to the path to your right. Eventually the hedgerows give way to woodland and you enter the nature reserve of Hurley Chalk Pit.

Beyond through the little wood, the path joins a farm road and the lane leads to the foot of Ashley Hill. The woodland clothing the hill is a remnant of the great southern forest. Fir trees, interplanted with silver birch, have now largely replaced the original ash trees that once grew on this hill. The name Ash-ley means the clearing in the ashwood.

The path climbs steadily uphill to the site of Keeper's Cottage and then plunges steeply down to a track along the side of Pudding Hill.

This pleasant byway soon becomes a lane and in the dell to the left is what must be one of the most secluded pubs in England, the 300 year old Dew Drop Inn. It has a flint faced facade from which pretty floral baskets hang in the summer, but a log fire makes it no less inviting in the winter. The inn has a garden set into a hollow in the hillside, from which there are lovely views down towards the river.

The route continues along the lane at the foot of Ashley Hill, then turns left along a pleasant path edged with blue flowered chicory in summer, across the level fields to High Wood. Here, tall and graceful beeches top the appropriately named Prospect Hill, which affords magnificent views over Hurley and the Thames. The path runs arrow-straight down the steep hillside.

You cross the busy road once more, to the contrasting quiet of Hurley's long village street. Just past the Rising Sun is Ye Olde Bell, which dates from 1135 and lays claim to being the oldest surviving inn in England. It was probably built to accommodate visitors to the priory, and may have gained its name from the Sanctus Bell, rung to announce the beginning of mass. There is supposedly a tunnel leading from the inn's celler to the site of the priory. Ye Olde Bell also has a place in more recent history. US Naval Intelligence was housed in the village in World War Two and General Dwight D Eisenhower was a regular drinker here in the months that led up to the D-Day landings of 1944. Other famous guests have included Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Cary Grant, Errol Flynn and Dustin Hoffman. From the inn, it is a short stroll past the old post office back to the car park at the start of the walk.