Circular walking guide to Wraysbury station

From Platform 1 or 2, take the steps to the road. Turn right and cross over Colne Brook by the bridge. Follow the public right of way, signposted immediately on your right. If you pass a sign to Engenica House, you have gone too far.

The path initially follows the stream before running parallel to the railway and reaching a footpath sign to the right. Take this path and carefully cross the tracks using two stiles. Bear left following the marker post and yellow arrow.

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Follow this path with the stream on your right and the lake to your left. Depending on the season, you may see honeysuckle, wild rose, herb Robert (a small wild pink geranium) or the frothy, white heads of Queen Anne’s lace. In summer, dragonflies are abundant; in winter, the lakes are home to wildfowl.

After three-quarters of a mile, you will reach a bench, erected by the environmental charity Groundwork UK, with lovely views downstream. Pass an information board explaining that Wraysbury Lakes are former gravel pits, now designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest by English Nature. Leave the area by a stile opposite the MOT test centre. 

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Turn right on to the road. Pass the shops and Panahar Tandoori restaurant, and continue for about half a mile, until you reach the gates to the British Airways Sailing Club on your right. Cross the road and take the footpath to the right of house number 104.

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Enter the National Trust’s Ankerwycke parkland. Go through a kissing gate with the River Thames ahead and admire the views of Runnymede and the site where King John sealed the Magna Carta. The path bears right emerging on to an open field. Continue ahead to a hedge-lined path—do not cross the stile in the left-hand corner of the field. Follow this to the ruins of the 12th-century St Mary’s Priory, formerly home to a community of Benedictine nuns.

Just beyond, on the right, is the Ankerwycke yew, reputedly more than 2,000 years old and designated by the Tree Council as one of 50 great British trees.

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Continue for about 100 yards to a National Trust marker post and follow the arrow left to a kissing gate. Enter the field and then cross a wooden bridge ahead. Follow the path through this large field, aiming for houses in the distance. On the way, look left at the RAF memorial.

Leave by the gate and cross the lane to follow the footpath sign to the right of the houses on Mede Close. Aiming for the spire of St Andrew’s, pass through four gates. Leave the churchyard on your right and turn right at the main road. Pass The George Inn on your left and the intricate trellis-work on The Grange, opposite.

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Turn left on to The Green, passing the playground, cricket pitch, tennis court and bowls club. Cross over the charming pond by the windmill—now a private house—and come out at The Perseverance to your right. It has a Sunday roast, as well as specials, plenty of wines by the glass and comfy furniture. If the mussels, with cream, wine and garlic, the three-bean and cheddar bake or the range of burgers do not tempt you, then continue to the Baptist Church.

Opposite, go through a squeeze stile on a signed path and follow this, with occasional lake views, to the weatherboard barns by Tithe Farm. Turn right when the lane reaches the road and Wraysbury station is ahead.  

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