Directions to West Wycombe Park
Coming from the M4, take A423M from the Motorway exit 8/9, probably signed Marlow, Henley and High Wycombe. Stay on this road for about 12 miles ignoring signs to Henley or Marlow and joining the A404 towards High Wycombe. You have to go over one roundabout and then the next big roundabout is the junction with exit 4 on the M40.
This is the main High Wycombe exit on the M40. Go round the roundabout and take the first left exit after the M40 (i.e. A4010 sign posted to Aylesbury). Go straight over three roundabouts following signs when possible to Aylesbury. After going down a hill a couple of miles from the M40, the road goes straight over a mini roundabout and then forks left beside a garage taking you down to the A40. Go left along the A40 towards Oxford and West Wycombe. Keep left after 1 mile on the A40 not going on the A4010 to Aylesbury. About 2 miles further along the A40 the Dashwood Arms pub is on your left. parking will be in the Service road (The Old Oxford Road) outside the Dashwood Arms.
This meet is one of the oldest the Berks & Bucks have as it was first arranged when Roger Palmer was a Joint Master of the Windsor Forest Bloodhounds back in 1972. When our draghounds were first formed it was one of our initial meets, with the family of Sir Francis Dashwood (Britain’s Premier Baronet) actually helping to lay the lines and sometimes riding with us. The house itself is a beautiful setting with some lovely parkland in front of it and superb woods for riding a shooting. All the lines take place on the current owner’s estate with Sir Edward and Lady Lucinda Dashwood being particularly accommodating.
They also allow us to hold our main Sponsored Ride over the estate every Easter Monday, which has become one of the largest in the whole of Great Britain.
The route is quite beautiful and fairly hilly. Many of the jumps are post & rails but there are a number of nice hedges with smaller alternatives beside them.
Lines:
We normally have five lines with four south of the A40 and the fifth on the north side if the ground is not too wet.
The first line goes from Wheeler End back towards West Wycombe before circling back from West Wycombe and eventually going down into Hellsbottom. Due to the hill nature of the route, there are not an excessive number of jumps.
The second line starts from the eastern end of Hellsbottom, going up by Sumpters Wood and finishing at Grove Farm. The third line, which has about a dozen jumps which is the most of any line, starts by Friars Farm, goes past Pyatts Farm and then finishes in the valley to the west of the farm. Like all the lines, this one is also almost exclusively on grass or the occasional track with 6 nice hedges.
The fourth line takes the horses up from Hellsbottom over the hill behind West Wycombe Park itself and down into the Park along by the wonderful lake (the river of which we normally cross in the Sponsored Ride). The line finishes on the edge of the Park by the glorious house. Then, depending on the ground conditions, we either go back along the south side of the A40 to Wheeler End Common or have our line on the north side of the road. This starts by the garden centre, goes along by the water meadows towards the motor museum. Swings up onto the big hill, through the wood on the top before coming down and going round the fields beside Ham Farm. From there it is a short hack back to the meet.