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.
The path continued through an empty sheep pasture, with Golden Valley down on my right. The path then went over a stile, and for several hundred yards followed a hedge on the right, with an arable field to my left. The path then went through a small wood called Webb's Copse and then entered a huge and irregularly shaped cattle pasture. The path gradually converged with a fence on the right, and when the fence turned right so did the path, dropping steadily downhill into Golden Valley. In the valley bottom it turned left, and followed the valley for several hundred yards through the same cattle pasture.
The path after I turned left by the stables - Golden valley is on the right
The path after I turned left by the stables - Golden valley is on the right
The path after I turned left by the stables
The path after I turned left by the stables, passing through Webb's Copse
The path after I turned left by the stables, just after Webb's Copse
The path dropping down into Golden Valley
The path through Golden Valley (part of Ashridge House visible on the left)
The path through Golden Valley
Just as I reached a gate and stile at the end of the pasture, I spotted a Common Blue butterfly, my first of 2017, and managed to get a photograph. The path now continued along the valley, which was gradually diminishing in size - the bottom of the valley was a broad swathe of grass, with woods on either side. Almost at once I spotted some Fallow Deer on my left - I was actually level with them, no more than 50 yards away, before I realised they were there. I managed to get some photos, before I continued on my way along the attractive valley.
Common Blue butterfly
The path through Golden Valley
Fallow Deer, in Golden Valley
Fallow Deer, in Golden Valley
The path through Golden Valley
After a few hundred yards the path curved gradually right and converged with the drive to Ashridge House. When the path met the drive, I continued along the drive for a few yards then forked left onto a path. This followed the bottom of a small valley through more of the Ashridge woods. I stayed on the path as it then passed some garden hedges on my right, and then the path ran through trees with part of Ashridge Golf Course on my left. The path ended on a road just south of Ringshall, opposite the car park where I'd started.
The path through Golden Valley, approaching the drive to Ashridge House
The path from across the Ashridge House drive
The path from across the Ashridge House drive
The path from across the Ashridge House drive
Walking in the Chilterns doesn't get much better than this! I'd been concerned that the weather might but just a bit too warm for me, but my sensible idea of choosing a route that spent a lot of time in woods worked well, and even when I was in the open there was always a stiff breeze to cool things down. As I result the walk was simply glorious - a really good route with lots of woodland walking yet enough sections of fields or downland to keep it interesting, almost perfect conditions weather-wise, and a smattering of wild-life to add further interest to the walk. I've had lots of good walks recently, but this was the most enjoyable walk I've had for a long time.