Pete's Walks- Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail (page 1 of 6)

If you are considering walking this route yourself, please see my disclaimer. You may also like to see these notes about the maps and GPX files.

Google map of the walk

I did this circular walk of about 16 miles on Friday, May 26th, 2017. It was a repeat of the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail which I've walked many times before, this time walked in the anti-clockwise direction.

I parked at Ashridge, in the small car park a few hundred yards south of Ringshall (grid reference SP 983137), and started walking at roughly 9.20am. In total contrast to my previous walk, it was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature forecast to reach 27°C. From the car park I followed a broad footpath into the woods of Ashridge, going straight on at a path crossroads and then taking the next turning on the right (about a quarter of a mile from the road). After a hundred yards or so I turned left, then after maybe two hundred yards I turned right. This path soon had a large open area of grass and a car park close by on the left, and after about a quarter of a mile it brought me to a road on the edge of Ringshall.

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The start of the path from car park just south of Ringshall

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After I turned right from the first path

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After I turned left

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After I turned right again, on the path past the car park to the road

I crossed the road and continued down a drive opposite. I passed a cottage on the left and then a reservoir, the path then turning left to go past another side of the reservoir. The path continued along the edge of an empty pasture, with Ringshall Coppice now on my right. The path then ran between fences for a while, still beside the wood. It then ran through sheep pastures, linked by empty gateways in hedges, gradually moving away from Ringshall Coppice. Beyond the third pasture I reached Ward's Hurst Farm, (where no less than six footpaths converge).

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The path from the road in Ringshall

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The route is generally easy to follow, but there were one or two places where a waymark would have helped

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The path continuing from Ringshall to Ward's Hurst Farm

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The path continuing from Ringshall to Ward's Hurst Farm

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The path continuing from Ringshall to Ward's Hurst Farm (the buildings in the background)

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View towards the Vale of Aylesbury from near Ward's Hurst Farm

The path went straight on through the farmyard (it was slightly diverted a few years ago), then followed a fence on the left through part of another sheep pasture to reach a wood. The floor of the wood was absolutely carpeted with Ramsons or Wild Garlic, so there was a pungent smell here. The path dropped steeply downhill on a flight of 'steps' with a handrail on the right, then continued on through the wood, soon entering a section of conifers.  The path then ran through an area of deciduous trees for about a quarter of a mile, before I reached a gate on the edge of the wood which opened onto a large open grassy area.

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Lots of Ramsons by the steps in the wood just after Ward's Hurst Farm

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The wood after Wood's Hurst Farm (it would be logical if it was called Ward's Hurst, but he only name on the OS map is The Coombe)

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The coniferous section of the wood

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The wood after Wood's Hurst Farm