Pete's Walks- Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail (page 6 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.
Beyond the fields I continued across grass to a post with waymarks by a path junction where I turned left and soon went through a gate into woodland. For some distance the wood was deciduous, but then the path passed through what I always think of as the 'spooky' part of the wood, an area of tall dark conifers where there is little light. The conifers are planted in straight lines, and I had to watch carefully for the places where the path switched from one row to the next (it always went left). The path soon emerged from the conifers and joined a track close to a field on the left. A little further on, the path started to follow wooden steps and a hand-rail up a fairly steep slope - there was a smell of here, as this part of the wood would soon be carpeted with Wild Garlic (none was in flower yet, but the leaves were very much in evidence). At the top of the slope, the path left the wood and followed a fence on the right to reach the yard around Ward's Hurst Farm.
The path to Ward's Hurst Farm, about to enter the woods
The path to Ward's Hurst Farm
The path to Ward's Hurst Farm (in what I always think of as the 'spooky' part of the wood)
The path to Ward's Hurst Farm
The path to Ward's Hurst Farm (again it's steeper here than the photo would seem to indicate!)
Approaching Ward's Hurst Farm
The path went straight on through the yard (it was slightly redirected a few years ago) and continued through a sequence of sheep pastures, with plenty of sheep and their lambs. As I came to the gate where the path passed from the first pasture to the second, I realised there were a large number of Fallow Deer in the second pasture. I stopped and watched them for a while - there were a bout 50 of them, including an all-white one. Further on, the path ran beside Ringshall Coppice on my left. Eventually it reached a small reservoir, beyond which it turned right and soon joined the drive from a cottage to reach a road on the edge of Ringshall.
The path continuing from Ward's Hurst Farm, through the sheep pastures - if you look through the gap in the hedge on the left, you can see a Fallow Deer
There were about 50 Fallow Deer here, including an all white one
The white Fallow Deer
Sorry, a shot of a lamb is compulsory at this time of year (it's the law! :) )
The path continuing through the sheep pastures
The path continuing through the sheep pastures (this shot was taken only about 50 yards after the previous one - I was obviously getting tired and using any excuse for a photo stop!)
The path continuing beside Ringshall Coppice
The path after it turned right behind the small reservoir
I crossed the road and took a path on the other side, back in the woods of Ashridge - there was a large parking area close by on my right. Sadly, at least three old beech trees here had been brought down in the winter storms. After a while the path turned left, but only for a hundred yards or so before it turned right at a path T-junction. Again it was only a hundred yards or so until the next junction, where I turned left onto a bridleway, which I followed back to the car park where I'd started.
The footpath on the other side of the road
The path after it turned left ...
... and after it turned right. I haven't included the photo I took of where the path then turned left again, as it turned out blurry - by this time, I was probably too tired to hold the camera steady! :)
I was pretty tired by the time I'd finished the 16-miles, but I had really enjoyed the walk. I know I've always enjoyed it in the past, but I'd forgotten just how good it was. There's obviously lots of paths through woodland, but that never became boring, and there were plenty of good views to be had when out of the woodland. There were a few ups and downs to keep it interesting too. I'm sure I won't leave it another five years before I walk it again.