Top 11 Natural Monuments around Checkendon

A most beautiful place in Oxfordshire

A beautiful area to enjoy nature during a relaxing hike or a walk.

Meander through beech, oak, and ash trees on this beautiful section of walking through Lambridge Wood. The area has been declared a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

You only get brief glimpses of the Aylesbury Vale far below if you stick to the road. The view is mostly obscured by trees. It's worth stopping when the views open and find a place to get a better look - it's a stunning view onto the plain below. It's still a road worth riding just don't expect easy vista's. I found the traffic was okay on a Saturday morning, and there were lots of cyclists using the road for company.

Views and woodland on both sides, pretty nippy and reasonably flat so you'll get some good speeds here. As do the cars, unfortunately, which is the only let down of this stunning road section. It's still worth doing as the road is reasonably wide and for the most part, I was given distance on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, despite drivers going over 70mph.

Hartslock Nature Reserve is a beautiful, south facing chalk downland hill, which affords breathtaking views over the River Thames and Goring Gap. The grassland, which is surrounded by ancient hedgerows and woodland, is home to myriad species of plants and animals, some of which are extremely rare. As such, it has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

It is likely that somewhere here the castle moats were originally controlled by sluices which could be emptied into the low-lying meadow area. In the 1800’s, the Victorians created this grotto, and planted the banks with various ‘exotic’ plants, including snowdrops, bluebells and cotoneaster. Frogs, herons, moorhens and wagtail are to be seen at times. The shallow edges, exposed mud and waterlogged wood are all good for invertebrates. Pond dipping here is fun, but the mud is very deep, so please take care and always keep children under supervision.

Although you are less than 35 metres above the river valley, this vantage point gives you a 180 degree view of the Thames Valley between Henley-on-Thames and Hambleden Mill. You should be able to see the river in places. At this point, the river follows an arc, which is an ‘incised meander’. At some time in the past, the natural sinuosity of the river channel has been cut down into the landscape, preserving it in a fixed position. This view is at its most colourful in the autumn when many of the trees turn yellow, brown and red. This is also a good place to see red kites gliding on the wind and to hear skylarks singing overhead.