The New and Improved Chess Valley Walk!
We’re delighted that work to install new interpretation boards and waymarking signs on the Chess Valley Walk is now complete. The ten new boards have been designed to bring the history and wildlife of this special chalk stream alive for the thousands of visitors that follow the route every year. Alongside the signage, footpath improvements have been made at several locations to improve accessibility. Work was delivered as part of the Chalk Streams and Wetlands Meadow project, funded by the Green Recovery Challenge Fund.
The Chess Valley Walk is amongst the most popular promoted route in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The ten-mile linear route starts and ends at Metropolitan Line stations in Rickmansworth and Chesham respectively, so is a popular choice with both locals and day visitors.
The Chess Valley has some of the most attractive countryside in the Chilterns, and this landscape is rich in both history and wildlife. The ten new panels reveal some fascinating stories of Roman roads and villas, and ancient lynchets (agricultural terraces); of the last working watercress farm in the Chilterns and the only known Watermeadows in Buckinghamshire; of a WW2 intelligence hub, hidden in plain sight. They also describe the wonderful wildlife which lives in and around this chalk stream from Bullhead fish who make doting fathers, to kingfishers who can catch their own body weight in fish each day with their eyes closed!
The route and further details of the Chess Valley can be downloaded below. There will also a number of guided walks in the Chess Valley available during the next Chilterns Walking Festival which will take place from Saturday 20 May to Sunday 4 June 2023. Watch this space.
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