Join youth volunteer Amy Shayler for an exploration of Cadsden and Fingest

I’m Amy Shayler and I volunteer for the Chiltern Conservation Board for my gold Duke of Edinburgh award. My passion is photography and I’m hoping to capture the beauty and diversity of the area that I am lucky enough to live in. I am trying to explore nature’s greatest moments through my lens to share its wonders with everyone else. I’m also looking forward to photographing local producers to showcase their local trades and delicacies.

I tried out the Cadmore End and Fingest 4 mile circular walk. Cadmore End is a hill-top village on the edge of the beautiful Hambleden Valley.  From here we headed down through the majestic beech woods, emerging to see the Hambleden Valley spread out before us.

Overall, the walk was very versatile as we went through woods, fields, and villages. In the woods there were some wonderful rustic signs about the local storm damage over the years, revealing how densely wooded the area must have been prior to that. On a cloudy day, the bronze-coloured leaves on the floor and the bare tree trunks shone brightly. As we came out of the woods the view was like a painting showing the chocolate box village of Fingest.

Fingest is a quaint village and we felt as if we had gone back in time, seeing the church, pub, and telephone box in the centre. The Chequers Inn at Fingest was picturesque, and we were delighted to find out that it doubles up as the antique shop in Midsomer Murders. When lockdown eases, the pub is the perfect point for refreshments with a large beer garden. There was a real community feel in the village, an example of this was the book swap in the telephone box. It was an enjoyable walk in quintessential Chilterns countryside. I did this walk in March when the woods were still quite bare. It had its own winter beauty, but it would be a wonderful walk to do in May as the woods would be full of bluebells.

There is some excellent food and drink produced in this rural area including Lacey’s ice cream from their herd of guernsey cows which you can buy at Lacey’s Farm Shop in Lane End, just 3 miles down the road.