Bucklebury Common, Bucklebury and Stanford Dingley

Passing through woods and fields, the route brings you down to the village of Bucklebury, past the cricket field's 'Victory Room' and Riverside Cottages. Here the River Pang is a gentle trickling stream before crossing via a brick bridge.

Continuing across fields toward Stanford Dingley, you arrive at the Grade I listed church and the 15th-century Bull Inn overlooking the village green.

The return leg traverses Bucklebury Common (recorded in the Domesday Book as Borgeldeberie Hundred). Once a royal hunting ground, it famously accommodated 20,000 Parliamentary troops in 1644 before the Second Battle of Newbury. Today, the ancient oak and beech woodlands provide peaceful recreation for walkers.

Acknowledgment: Text derived from the Out and Out Series; Discovering the Countryside on Foot. Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.