Foxholes

This is a lovely, gentle walk that rewards in every season, though perhaps never more so than in spring and summer. Foxholes Nature Reserve, owned and managed by the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust, is one of our family favourites and a walk that has always boosted our mood over the years with its woodland sights and sounds.

Practicalities 

We went in wellies and I advise you do the same. Parking for the walk is suggested at the marvellous Bruern Farms Shop and Café. There are also a couple of parking spaces just outside Idbury on the left-hand side towards Bould, and two more at the Bruern entrance to Foxholes. 

The Walk 

We began at Bruern Farms Café & Shop, walked across the lane through an open gate and then right, following the bridleway across fields, then left, past Scots Pine trees, and soon arrived at the woodland itself. There was a useful map here at our main starting point. There is a choice of routes, all of which are good. Turning left would offer the recommended half loop, using the marked trails through the centre of the wood and returning to the start via the bridleway. A longer route (fuller loop) follows the edge of the reserve but offers a less immersive experience. 

Today we favoured the route less travelled, heading to one of the quieter parts of the wood, and chose the right-hand path to Bruern with stops along the way under a beautiful mile-long canopy made from the branches and twisting twigs of cathedral-like beech and oak. The woodland floor around the path was an autumn mulch of leaves, gnarled and broken beech nuts and acorns. Some years ago, we heard reports from a well-liked local lady — now sadly passed — of secret bathing ponds deep in this part of the woods, but on this walk at least, these remained lost in time. We stepped along softly undulating paths and within minutes were forest bathing, with the sounds of nature all around, including the unmistakable dot-dot-dash staccato of great spotted woodpeckers. 

Breaking free of the forest's embrace, we stumbled upon a field of pasture with horses and stables — a scene of rural arcadia unchanged in hundreds of years that could have been painted by Constable. Gently sloping meadows and a private, enclosed paddock: a secret and perfect paradise. We then found our way along the footpath through old farm buildings to an ancient track overgrown with moss, en route to Bruern and the extraordinary gem that is Bruern Abbey. Although not properly viewable from the lane, upon taking a footpath one can easily see the house in all its splendour — a beautiful 18th-century manor in a Palladian/Baroque style. The form, scale and symmetry are exquisite, as is the attention to detail. This has to be one of the best-kept and most beautifully restored grand houses in the country. It is a private residence, once owned by a member of the Astor family before it became a school and then a home again. The current manor sits at or near the site of the ancient Cistercian abbey — the original Bruern Abbey — that stood here for 400 years. Founded in 1147, it was significant in the area until its dissolution in the mid-16th century. Its highly prized wool was shipped to Calais and traded in Flanders and Italy. All that remains is a medieval millpond at Bruern Grange, now a private home nearby. Former Abbot Robert King became the first Bishop of Oxford in 1542. 

Though not necessarily about Foxholes, prominent Cistercian St Bernard wrote the following: 

Believe one who has experienced it, Thou wilt find among the woods Something that thou didst never Find in books. Stones and trees Will teach thee a lesson thou Didst never learn in schools. 

We finished our walk with an amble back along the lane for delicious mushrooms on toast and a warming butternut squash soup at Bruern Farms Shop & Café. Their young local staff brought energy and vitality to the room, which was buzzy and light. Before leaving, I picked up some extraordinary beef from the farm shop's freezer for lunch the next day. 

Insider Tips 

Foxholes rewards in every season. Come in spring for the bluebells — among the best in the Cotswolds — and access from Idbury to catch them at their most spectacular to the left of the entrance. In summer, the canopy is at its fullest and the woodland floor lush and cool underfoot. Autumn brings its own magic, with the beech turning gold and the paths soft with fallen leaves. 

If bluebells are your goal, mark your diary for the first week in May and keep your fingers crossed — you may be dazzled by an iridescent carpet of blue and green, like a giant hummingbird zipping in and out of the trees. 

If you are planning an all-day walk to Foxholes, I would begin and end at The King's Head, Bledington. My favourite local pub, The King's Head has been a well-deserved winner of both Britain's Pub of the Year and Inn of the Year. It is well known to be frequented by royalty but is just as welcoming to first-time visitors — the sort of place where no one bats an eye and all are welcome. Expect excellent food and ales and a splendid welcome from owner Archie Orr-Ewing, manager Rob and the whole team. And if by chance you arrive back from your walk at dusk in the summer, you will gaze upon the village green bathed in a pink grapefruit and orange marmalade sunset, with swifts charging across the sky, screeching their arrival and departure.