Chiltern Hills

Chiltern Hills near Nettlebed

The Chiltern Hills span the area between Wessex in the South West and Hitchin in Hertfordshire - across much of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire. These rolling hills feature swathes of habitat-rich grassland, broken up by ancient beech, ash and box woodland.

Just a short hop from London by train or in the car, this landscape is popular with ramblers and cyclists, while foodies can discover historic market towns.

Understand

History

According to the British Geological Survey, the Chilterns are part of a large geological formation which spans the area between the English Channel and Norfolk. They started forming around 145 million years ago.

Humans started living in the hills between 11,700 to 4,000 BC (Mesolithic), the hills' authority has said, when nomadic hunter-gatherers started to catch and eat red deer and fish. There is also evidence of Neolithic (4,000-2,000 BC) life in the Chilterns. with a barrow or burial mound at Whiteleaf Hill. Paths like the Icknield Way were trodden as early as 650 BC, during the iron age.

Over more recent centuries, patchwork fields, woodland and farmland developed, which became an important source of food under the Tudors (1485-1603 AD).

When the industrial revolution rolled around, the Grand Union Canal cut through the Bulbourne Valley in the late-1700s - between London and Birmingham. There are canal-side stops in and around the Chilterns, at Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Aylesbury and Cheddington.

Railways arrived in the mid-1800s, bringing towns like Reading and Amersham well into London's sphere of influence.

In 1965, the Chilterns became an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to formally recognise its unique landscape and wildlife. The Chilterns Conservation Board is responsible for conservation and improvements in the AONB with the National Trust responsible for looking after some of the estates and parkland.

Landscape

Towns and villages lie low, at the bottom of gentle hills and escarpments - with ridgeway walks.

Flora and fauna

There are large beechwoods with mature trees, some more than 40m tall. Wild box and juniper also grow in the hills.

Look out for otter, water voles, brown trout and the Adonis blue butterfly which are native to the Chilterns.

Get in

The Chilterns lie north-west of London.

By car

It depends where you want to go in the Chilterns, but the AONB is well connected, on the UK motorway network. Major routes into the AONB and its surrounding towns includeː

• from London, Watford, Yorkshire, Leicester and Milton Keynes
  • Junction 9 for Markyate, Whipsnade (via B4540) and Dunstable Downs (via B4540 and B4541)
  • Junction 11 for Dunstable and Luton
  • Junction 12 for Harlington.
• London Orbital
  • Junction 15 towards Reading and Henley-on-Thames
  • Junction 16 towards High Wycombe and Princes Risborough
  • Junction 18 towards Chorleywood, Amersham and Chesham
  • Junction 20 towards Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring
  • Junction 21 towards Luton and Dunstable.
• from London, Heathrow Airport, Cardiff, Bristol and Swindon
  • Junction 6 towards Beaconsfield, Amersham and Chesham
  • Junction 8/9 towards Marlow, High Wycombe and for Princes Risborough
  • Junction 12 for towards Pangbourne, Streatley and Wallingford.
• from London, Uxbridge, Birmingham, Warwick and Oxford
  • Junction 1 towards for Chalfont St Peter and Amersham
  • Junction 2 for Beaconsfield, Amersham and Chesham
  • Junction 4 towards High Wycombe and Princes Risborough and for Marlow
  • Junction 6 B4009 for Watlington, Wallingford and Princes Risborough.
• from London, Barnet, Stevenage, the North East and Peterborough
  • Junction 8 for Hitchin.
• from Reading into Pangbourne, Streatley and Wallingford.
• from Windsor and Slough into High Wycombe, Amersham and Chesham.
• from London and Oxford into High Wycombe.
• from London, Watford, Bicester and Aylesbury into Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring.
• from London, Rickmansworth and Maidenhead into Chorleywood, Amersham, High Wycombe and Marlow.
• from Denham and Aylesbury to Amersham and Wendover.
• from Leighton Buzzard, Luton, Cambridge, and Letchworth into Hitchin and Dunstable.
• from Luton, Kettering and Bedford into Barton-le-Clay.
• from Ware and Stevenage into Hitchin.

By train

Into Pangbourne, Goring and Streatley and Cholsey, use Great Western Railway services direct from London Paddington, Reading, Didcot Parkway and Oxford.

Into Bourne End and Marlow use Elizabeth Line  ELI  or Great Western Railway from East and Central London, London Paddington, Reading and Oxford, and change at Maidenhead.

Into Lower Shiplake and Henley-on-Thames use Elizabeth Line  ELI  or Great Western Railway from East and Central London, London Paddington, Reading and Oxford, and change at Twyford.

Into Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Saunderton, Princes Risborough and Little Kimble use Chiltern Railways from London Marylebone, Wembley Stadium, Bicester North, Banbury, Warwick Parkway and Birmingham Moor Street.

Into Chorleywood, Chalfont and Latimer, Amersham and Chesham use Metropolitan Line  MET  or Chiltern Railways from the City of London, King's Cross St Pancras, London Marylebone, Rickmansworth and Aylesbury. Chesham is  MET  only.

Into Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted and Tring use London Northwestern Railway from London Euston, Watford Junction, Milton Keynes and Northampton.

Into Luton and Harlington use Thameslink from Brighton, London Gatwick Airport, Central London, St Albans and Bedford.

Into Hitchin use Thameslink or Great Northern from Brighton, London Gatwick Airport, Central London, Stevenage, Cambridge, Royston and Peterborough.

By plane

London Heathrow Airport and Luton Luton Airport are close to the Chiltern Hills with good road connections to Chiltern towns and villages. There are direct rail connections from London Gatwick Airport to destinations in the AONB.

Fees and permits

Most land is privately owned. You cannot camp on common land or other land without the owner's permission.

Some car parks may charge.

Get around

A network of small routes pass along the length of the Chiltern Hills. The roads are suitable for all cars and motorbikes, but some larger vans and HGVs may struggle on more rural roads.

It is not easy to travel across the Chilterns by train or bus, and some public transport journeys may require a change in Central London.

See

The Ridgeway

The Ridgeway runs from Ivinghoe Beacon in the north east to Overton Hill in the South west.

Sleep