Bradenham

Bradenham is a National Trust estate in the Chiltern Hills around a village of brick and flint houses on a green with a cricket pitch, managed from Hughenden alongside Watlington Hill and Coombe Hill. The 11th-century church of St Botolph and the 17th-century manor, once home to Isaac D'Israeli, father of Benjamin, stand above the green; the manor is not open to visitors. Around the village, rare chalk grassland rich in wild flowers and butterflies gives way to beech woods full of bluebells in spring, farmland views and hidden archaeology in the ancient woodland, all criss-crossed by footpaths. The Red Lion pub is now a tea room serving breakfasts and lunches to walkers. Tips from visitors: the small Trust car park on Smalldean Lane holds only a handful of cars and has deep potholes at the entrance, though it opens straight onto woodland paths; Saunderton station is a mile away. Three waymarked walks start from the village, from a 2-mile countryside trail to an 8-mile hills, valleys and woodlands circuit.