To Chipping Warden from Wardington on a circuit

This walk and all the ones that follow it in the logical "flow" of the Jurassic Way route from north to south, were actually walked in reverse order. In particular, today's walk, described before the walk from Middleton Cheney to Wardington and back, was actually walked the day after that walk.  Today's walk was a circuit, with the section on the Jurassic Way being described in the reverse direction from the general north to south flow.  It was an absolutely delightful circuit, but it wasn't the circuit we had planned, courtesy of umpteen path (and road) closures as a result of HS2 construction. All so that rail travellers can get from the outskirts of London to Birmingham a few minutes faster than the current journey time from London Euston to Birmingham New Stree (less than 1 hour 20 minutes). What a white elephant, waste of taxpayers money and wrecker of our beautiful English countryside. 

From MIlton Keynes,  our usual  driving route to the Banbury area is by way of the A421 to Buckingham, then along the A422 almost all the way, with just a short section on the A43 around Brackley. Today Google Maps took us further north, almost to Towcester, and we approached  our planned parking spot, at SP497458 to the east of the Oxfordshire village of Wardington, from the east, by way of Thorpe Road, the minor road on which we would park.  After leaving the car, rather than taking the loop around Wardington that we had followed yesterday, we just followed Thorpe Road to the point at which we'd left the Jurassic Way yesterday, then we turned right and left the village.  We climbed steeply through a field of sheep and lambs and, at the brow of the hill, we returned to Northamptonshire. We also left the Battlefields Trail whose route we had been sharing - and which we would return to later. 

We continued across the lovely rolling landscape, descending to a minor road which led to an even more minor road and so to Edgcote, a pretty little estate village. As we passed the church we noticed a sign outside saying that it was open - and it was, but only because a couple (possibly a brother and sister) were preparing the church for tomorrow's Easter Sunday service. So we got a personal introduction to the interesting features, which included monuments to members of the Chauncey Family, who bought the Estate in 1543 and remained here until 1926, and the family box pew. Parts of the Church date back to the 13th Century, but Edgcote Hall is more recent, built to replace an earlier house in the 18th Century.  We continued past a few other estate buildings and then along an attractive drive, crossing the River Cherwell and passing a well-spoken couple with a labrador who wanted us to throw its stick. Might these be the current owners? 

We noticed a little memorial with a relatively fresh bunch of flowers at its base. The memorial commemorates the five young crew members of a Wellington Bomber from  RAF Chipping Warden, which crashed here in 1945, with just one survivor. The descendants of one of these young men clearly care enough to still be placing flowers here. The return leg we had planned made use of the Millennium Way and the Battlefields Trail, but we noticed that there were fairly permanent-looking "Millennium Way diversion" signs on the route we were following now, so maybe we'd  end up coming back along here. This would be no hardship at all, it was lovely!

We reached the attractive church and the remains of the market cross at Chipping Warden. The presence of the market cross and the "Chipping" (meaning market) in the name, made me expect a town, but it is actually now a small village. We turned right,  both to find the best route  for the next section of the Jurassic Way to the north (for whenever we're next here) and to find an appropriate circuit to use for our return walk to Wardington today. We were now close to the path of HS2 and knew that its development had closed  some footpaths in the area. A map near the village hall (repeated at various access points) alerted us to path closures to the north; there are quite a lot of them, including the route of the Jurassic Way between SP505488 and SP512492. We planned a possible route which avoided these path closures and turned our attention back to today's walk, spotting a difficulty on the loop we were planning to the east. However, we found a lovely alternative.

From just past the Chipping Warden playground on Culworth Road, we were able to take a footpath that went back to Edgcote by way of an old water mill, and we rejoined our outward route past Edgcote House and the church (no longer open). However, at SP504477 we left the Jurassic Way and took a track diagonally south-east. This route also bore "Millennium Way diversion" signs which was reassuring; we weren't the only people to see this as a way around the HS2 works to the north and east - and a very interesting route it was too. We'd realised we were in a horsey area, but didn't know that there is a relatively new horse "gallops" here, comprising one or two large circular tracks and a hill gallop, so we crossed one or other of the horse tracks multiple times. There's more on the construction here and a horse's eye view here, but there were no horses about today.

As we reached a spinney it started to rain. sufficiently to warrant stopping to don waterproofs for the first time in ages. Because we have mostly been walking on day trips, I guess we've got a bit wimpy, not leaving home if the weather forecast is bad. I don't much enjoy walking for hours and hours in rain, or having to wear waterproofs when that makes you too warm, but neither of those applied today and the rain didn't really bother us; actually it just made me feel like a "proper walker" again, rather than just a tourist out for a little potter when the conditions are good. The path climbed up to Lodge Farm. The route around the farm wasn't entirely clear - turn right onto a track then, just past the buildings, look out for a right-hand turning.

We were now walking close to the top of the ridge, above Ashbed Spinney and Orchard Spinney, and back on the route of the Battlefields Trail. We joined a track but, at an illegible route marker, turned right off the track again and followed the top of the slope just below the track. It wasn't easy walking and we weren't sure of our exit route further on (it would have been fine) so when we saw an open gate near what is marked on the map as Douglas's Barn, we returned to the track. Just before the next spinney we crossed the Edgote hill gallop again, now close to the top of the hill. We were looking for somewhere to stop for lunch, and it was still raining from time to time. Richard noted a large stone at the open entrance to Hill Barn, which provided an excellent place to sit, with some shelter.

We soon rejoined our outward path, at the top of the hill above Wardington, and descended back through the field of sheep and lambs to the village and our waiting car. We were going on to visit Farnborough Hall, a National Trust property, actually in Warwickshire, but only an 11-minute drive away, but it didn't open until 2pm and we'd be too early if we left now. We also knew that there is no tea shop at Farnborough Hall (which is still occupied by descendants of the Holbech Family who owned it from 1692 until the 20th Century) so first of all we drove the very short distance from our parking place in Wardington to the cafe at Barn Farm Plants Garden Centre for a cup of tea. We'd recommend both this cafe and Farnborough Hall, famous for its 18th Century plasterwork and beautiful landscaped parkland, but most of all memorable because it feels like an (albeit rather posh!) family home - as it is of course.

Following leg of Jurassic Way (north to south)