Distance 4.5 miles (7.2km)
Classification Easy
Duration 2 hours
Begins New Inn car park
OS grid reference SP6816036425

Walk in a nutshell
You could hardly choose a greater architectural spectacle than Stowe landscape gardens, which were designed and built during the first half of the 18th century by Charles Bridgeman, William Kent and Capability Brown. Everywhere you turn there is another marvel: the elegiac temples and churches, Elysian Fields, the Gothic Temple (which is available to let), the Palladian bridge … It's just a joy to explore, with mainly flat terrain, and some short steep sections.

Why it's special
Stowe is often said to be the greatest landscape garden in the world. With more than 40 temples and monuments placed tastefully around its sculpted grounds, the ambition it displays is simply breathtaking. It is Capability Brown's masterpiece, praised by poets, philosophers and European royalty, who imitated it in their own palaces. Even now, people come from all over the world to visit Stowe.

Keep your eyes peeled for
The Temple of British Worthies in the Elysian Fields shows how political this garden was. The pantheon of 16 great men and women is a declaration of Whig ideals. The Grecian Valley, thought to be Brown's first ever landscape design, contains the extraordinary Temple of Concord and Victory, as well as the towering Cobham Monument, the tallest structure in the gardens. If you tire of man-made wonders, look out for some of Stowe's extraordinary ancient trees. The Scots pine and oak around the Bourbon Tower, for instance, were planted in around 1808 by exiled members of the French Bourbon royal family.

Recover afterwards
The New Inn visitor centre houses the Nevillery cafe where you can buy anything from sandwiches to casseroles to afternoon tea, and eat them with a view of the Corinthian Arch. Down the road in Buckingham, the Mitre is a traditional pub stocking a good range of real ales . Or you could try the Woolpack, which is also in Buckingham.

If it's tipping down
It's only half an hour's drive to the birthplace of the modern computer. Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes, is where the German Enigma code was broken using electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines (pictured). Today the place is full of activities and exhibits to keep people of all ages happy. Otherwise there's always the simpler appeal of Bicester Village (bit.ly/jaHfUe), a huge cluster of discount fashion outlets about 12 miles to the south-west.

How to get there
There are no train stations in the immediate vicinity. Bicester North (9 miles away) or Milton Keynes (14 miles) are as close as it gets. However, the X5 coach linking Oxford and Cambridge travels regularly to Buckingham, from where it is about 1.5 miles to Stowe.

Step by step

1 From the New Inn vistor centre, walk towards the Corinthian Arch before heading down Queen's Drive to the gate where the drive crosses the end of the lake.

2 At the end of the road from Queen's Drive turn left on to Oxford Avenue. Continue over Oxford Water towards the gates.

3 Once over Oxford bridge turn right through the gate and continue along the lakeside. Cross the narrow foot bridge and head for the stile close to beech and oak trees.

4 Go into the yard. Turn right out of the yard, then left across the grass, parallel to Oxford Avenue.

5 Going away from the road, pass through the gate and head towards Home Farm.

6 Ahead and to the right is a gate/stile. Go through it, turn left on to the road and walk up the hill. At the T-junction turn left along Paddock Course.

7 Turn right at the end of the ha-ha.

Continue along the path. Follow the boundary and cross the stream, following it right to the field boundary. From here a short walk to the Farey oak is signposted. Walking away from the old oak, you will eventually see the Bycell Riding.

8 Turn right on to the Riding then follow the ha-ha until you turn left on to the roadway leading back to the New Inn visitor centre.