Walks you can reach from Didcot Parkway by train

Highly recommended: Thames riverside, ancient streets, broad valleys, beech woods, fields, small villages, alpaca farm and toll bridge.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Time: 5h–10h30

1 lunch spot: the Red Lion (1h30–3h30 in)

1 end-of-walk reward: the Greyhound

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

Highly recommended: Woods, hilly, river and quaint village.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

Time: 3h30–7h

3 lunch spots: Streatley (2h–4h in) — Pierreponts, or the Swan at Streatley and the Coppa Club; plus the Bull (2h–4h in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Miller of Mansfield, or the Catherine Wheel

Warnings: Relatively busy.

Source: Trains2Green.

Undulating downs, Thames-side views, Ridgeway path, chalk hills and quaint villages.

Time: 5h30

Warnings: Steep descents.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Part-wooded ridges, open pastures, wildflower nature reserve, Thames river meadows, beech woods and Thames-side villages.

Time: 4h

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Disused railway path, tunnels, viaducts, canal towpath, river and historic city centre.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Thames riverside path, gently rolling Oxfordshire countryside, open fields and attractive villages.

Warnings: Long, exposed walk.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Flat Thames towpath, riverside parks, wooded sections, pasture fields, meadows and riverside gardens.

Waterway: four fifths along the River Thames.

Time: 4h–8h

Warnings: Flood risk sections.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Similar walk: Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Flat Thames Path riverside countryside, the Horseshoe Bridge and the historic Bull Inn at Sonning (of Three Men in a Boat).

The River Thames: England's best-known river, whose towpath (the Thames Path National Trail) carries long stretches of nearly every walk in this set.

Time: 2h30

Warnings: Shared with cyclists between Reading and Sonning; walkers only beyond.

Walk details: Reading to Basingstoke Community Rail Partnership (turn-by-turn directions).

Level, stile-free fields and tracks past the Saxon church where Agatha Christie is buried, the Aston villages and a heritage railway.

Agatha Christie's Grave: the grave of the crime novelist, beside the north wall of St Mary's churchyard under her married name Mallowan.

Time: 2h30–4h30

Lunch: The Chequers pub at Aston Tirrold.

Walk details: Round Reading Walk.

Flat riverside towpaths, water meadows, canal towpath, Oxford city streets, college lanes and historic squares.

Pitt Rivers Museum

Oxford

Time: 4h–8h

4 lunch spots: Wolvercote (1h–2h30 in) — the Trout Inn, Godstow, or the Jacob's Inn; plus the Perch (30m–1h in), or the Anchor (2h–4h in)

8 end-of-walk rewards: the Lamb & Flag, Oxford, the Red Lion, the Turf Tavern, the Bear, the Crown, the Royal Blenheim, the Castle Pub, or the Jolly Farmers

Warnings: Two fifths urban. Can be flooded.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

Flat fields, river meadows, canal path, farmland, small woods and residential streets.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Cotswolds farmland, disused canal towpath, ancient hillfort, beech woods, high watershed, grand parkland vistas, market town streets, quiet fields and upper Thames riverbank.

Time: 6h

Warnings: Can flood at Thames Head.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).