Bridge over Strand Water, Cookham Moor, Berkshire — Bridge over Strand Water, Cookham Moor | © Hugh Mothersole

Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Berkshire

Cookham wetland and wildlife trail

Follow this leisurely 2.8-mile circular walk south from Cookham Moor along the Strand Water, meeting up with White Brook stream and Widbrook Common before rejoining the moor.

Road crossing

You will need to cross the B4447 road twice, at Cookham Moor. Please take care when crossing these roads.

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Total steps: 5

Start point

Cookham Moor National Trust car park, grid ref: SU892853

Step 1

Start at the car park at Cookham Moor and being wary of traffic, cross the B4447 road and take the short path up to the Fleet Bridge. Turn right, crossing the Fleet Bridge and follow the elevated causeway to its end. Turn left, following the Green Way West sign, through a wooden pedestrian gate alongside the entrance gate to Chadsworth House.

Cookham Moor

Just west of Cookham High Street, on the floodplain of the River Thames, this low-lying wetland is divided by Strand Water, referred to locally as the Fleet. The Fleet Bridge, built in 1929, was a gift to the village by Mrs Balfour Allen as a memorial to her husband Edward. Together with the elevated causeway, the bridge has been invaluable during floods. It features in Sir Stanley Spencer's painting of Cookham Moor and Cookham village.

Step 2

Follow the signposted Green Way path for three quarters of a mile (1.25 km), through several gates until you meet a gate leading to a crossing path and a narrow footbridge. Turn right across the footbridge and then immediately left, following the Green Way West across an open field for 382yd (350m).

Step 3

At the next junction, continue straight ahead on the Green Way West for 55yd (50m), then leave the Green Way, turning left onto a footpath signposted as the Maidenhead Boundary Walk. Continue along the path for 546yd (500m), until you reach a gate leading to another narrow footbridge across White Brook, leading onto Widbrook Common.

Widbrook Common

Widbrook Common is an enclosed common of pasture, where commoners can graze their cattle from mid-May to mid-November for a fee, donated to the Cookham Educational Charity. The White Brook Stream adds diversity to the habitat. On the common look out for swans, mallards, moorhens, coots, herons and snipe. In summer, willow and sedge warblers, chiffchaffs, yellowhammers, goldfinches and blackcap visit the common. Dragonflies and damselflies appear in summer and include southern and brown hawkers, the emperor dragonfly and the banded agrion, plus many species of butterfly.

Step 4

Follow the path that runs alongside the hedge on the left (you'll pass a wooden seat on the left) for 273yd (250m), until you reach a wooden gate. Go through the gate and cross the field. On reaching the corner of the field turn right along the Green Way East, following the field boundary, with Strand Water on your left.

Strand Water

A sluggish stream that drains water into the Thames near Cookham. The stream has been widened here, probably for recreational or aesthetic purposes, in association with a house called Ye Strand Castle (now demolished) that stood on the west bank of the stream end of Strand Lane. Artist Stanley Spencer lived in Cookham, and spoke about his walks on the path to Strand Castle as the place 'where the shepherds seemed to be'. The path and the castle feature in his pen, pastel and ink work, Study for Joachim Among the Shepherds (1912, Tate Gallery).

Step 5

On reaching a crossing track at a field boundary, continue straight ahead on the Green Way East, with a field on your left and a field boundary on your right. As the field ends, continue along the path between buildings and gardens. You'll emerge at a road – to visit Cookham, turn right. Otherwise, turn left, keeping to the right of the entrance to Moor Hall and Conference Centre. Follow the Green Way West across Cookham Moor until you reach the causeway. Turn left on the causeway towards Fleet Bridge. Just before the bridge, turn right, cross the road and return to the car park.

Cookham village

The area around Cookham has been inhabited for thousands of years. By the 8th century, there was an Anglo-Saxon abbey in Cookham and it became the centre of a power struggle between the Kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex. Later King Alfred made Sashes Island one of his burhs to help defend against Viking invaders. It is recorded in the Domesday Book as Cocheham, meaning cook village in Old English. The village was listed as containing '32 villagers, 21 cottagers, 4 slaves, 2 mills, 2 fisheries and woodland at 100 pigs'. In The Middle Ages, most of Cookham was owned by Cirencester Abbey and the timber-framed 'Churchgate House' is thought to have been the Abbot's residence when he was in town. The 'Tarry Stone', which is still on the boundary wall of the Dower House, marked the extent of the Abbey's lands. Author Kenneth Grahame is said to have been inspired by the River Thames at Cookham to write The Wind in the Willows. He lived at The Mount in Cookham Dean as a child and returned to the village in 1908 to write the book, when he retired from his position as secretary of the Bank of England. The English painter, Sir Stanley Spencer was born here in a semi-detached house called Fernley (on the south side of the High Street) and most of his works depict villagers and village life in Cookham.

End point

Cookham Moor National Trust car park, grid ref: SU892853

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maidenheadandcookham@nationaltrust.org.uk

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Road crossing

Total steps: 5

Total steps: 5

Start point

Step 1

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Step 2

Step 3

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Step 4

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Step 5

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End point

Trail map