Thames Chase and Cranham Nature Reserve (Thames Chase Walk No. 2)

It was a rather overcast Saturday 24th October 2026 when eleven of us met at the Thames Chase Forest Centre Café.

After a warming brew, we set off towards Pike Lane, passing a dried up pond, but on arriving at the ‘play area’ with xylophone, gong etc we got distracted from the walk and had to be called to order.

We carried on over Pike Lane and along the edge of a field, then across another field which hadn’t long since been ploughed, so being rather wet from the recent rains we found our footwear becoming increasingly heavy.

After de-muddying our boots as best we could, we followed the footpath - with stile - into the grounds of All Saints Church, Cranham, then took a left on to The Chase and past Cranham Hall, with and old telephone box and post box in the grounds and Chinese lanterns hanging from a tree. Carrying on down The Chase we then turned right at the edge of the next field, spotting a red kite in the distance, then left at the next hedgerow to eventually enter a small wood on the fringe of the Cranham Nature Reserve. We turned right to go through the wood, then later took a left to cross a plank bridge near a cemetery and continue round the Nature Reserve.

I had planned to stop somewhere near there for lunch as there are various benches and even a picnic table, but as it was still threatening rain we pressed on. The only wildlife we actually saw in the Reserve were some cattle huddled under the trees (what did they know that we didn’t). We then came to a junction where the official route turns right, crosses a couple of fields and scrambles up to Pike Lane. However, not fancying the scramble and with rain appearing more imminent, I opted to head back to All Saints Church and retrace our path from there. We chose to take a lunch stop on benches in the church grounds before going back over the stile and the muddy field and on to the Forest Centre where most chose a lovely mug of hot chocolate. Length of the walk was 3.75 miles

It was actually on the drive home that the rains really hit so apart from that it was a good day out with pleasant company.

Richard,   01/11/2026