A few years ago, a small team of enthusiastic volunteers planned and mapped out a series of half-day walks in and around Cumnor, highlighting the charm and diversity of the countryside around the parish. The walks were published for all to follow and enjoy in a booklet Circular Walks Around Cumnor. An updated second edition has now been produced with financial support from Cumnor Parish Council and Oxford Preservation Trust.

On a recent warm late summer afternoon, some 47 adults and children turned out to launch the new booklet by walking one of the featured routes — The Four Village Walk — a five-mile circular tour around the picturesque villages of Cumnor, Besselsleigh, Appleton and Eaton.

We set out from Appleton Road in Cumnor and walked towards the village cricket club, keeping straight on along a footpath into a large field with the cricket field on the left. Here we learned from the booklet that a ditch to the right of us containing water draining from Cumnor village pond and eventually reaching the Ock and Thames is known as the Osse ditch from the Old English “wase”, meaning mud. In the Middle Ages the path was known as Lyeham Way, the route to Besselsleigh. Some way along, the stream becomes the boundary between Besselsleigh and Cumnor.

After nearly a mile, we walked through a wooded area and across an open field to turn into Besselsleigh; a glorious sight in the mid-afternoon sun.

After passing the last property in the village, we then made for Appleton via Besselsleigh Wood, noting that to our left was the site of the original Besselsleigh Manor, the home of William Lenthall, Speaker of the House of Commons in the Long Parliament (the house was destroyed in 1784).

In Appleton itself, many of us took the opportunity to look around St Laurence’s church, and particularly at a brass depicting a skeleton which is set into the chancel floor. Also of interest was the iron headstone in the churchyard to Frederick White, as the firm of bell ringers founded by Alfred White in 1842 continues to be run by the same family; their modernised buildings were passed en route .

Leaving Appleton we headed for Eaton, taking the road past The Eight Bells pub to cross a stile on to a footpath across an open field. We then rejoined the road which took us back to Cumnor, past Cutts End House, designed by Clough Williams-Ellis, via two gates and two stiles, to rejoin the footpath past the cricket field and hence to the start of the walk.

It had been a fascinating and enjoyable afternoon.

This is just one of the walks; the booklet contains 12, all with detailed maps and instructions, points of historical and environmental interest, guidance on any difficulties along the way (stiles etc.), and information on places of refreshment.

The selection shows what a wealth of different walks there are in the neighbourhood, such as around Farmoor Reservoir and along the banks of the Thames, over the meadows and slopes of Boars Hill, and through the fields and copses of the countryside surrounding Cumnor village. The booklet also contains the route of the Jubilee Walk around Oxford, which takes a day to complete.

Circular Walks Around Cumnor can be obtained or ordered from Oxenford House, The Glebe, Cumnor, Oxford OX2 9RL, telephone: 01865 865116, email: care@oxenfordhouse.co.uk. Price £5, plus p&p if ordered. It is also available in a number of shops in Cumnor. Profits from its sale will go to the Residents’ Social Fund to increase the activities and entertainment offered to residents.