Pete's Walks - Another Ashridge Walk (page 3 of 5)
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.
I followed the drive straight on, with the impressive Gothic fantasy of Ashridge House over to my right, until after about a quarter of a mile I reached a drive junction by a white gate, where I turned right towards the grand house. After maybe one hundred yards I took a footpath going left, which followed a fence past a car park and then entered more woods. The path then dropped downhill slightly into Golden Valley.
The drive that passes Ashridge House
Ashridge House
Approaching Ashridge House, after I turned right by a white gate
The path from Ashridge House
The path from Ashridge House
The path from Ashridge House descending into Golden Valley
I now rejoined the route of the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail by turning left along a path running through the long grass at the bottom of the valley. I now experienced a brief but heavy shower (enough for me to put my lightweight rain jacket on). After a few hundred yards, the path curved right and gradually approached another drive from Ashridge House. I then followed the drive to the right for a few yards, before another path forked left from the drive. I then just had to follow this path (shown as a permissive path on the OS map) through the woods for about three-quarters of a mile. After a while, after going straight on at a path crossroads, I had a fairway of Ashridge golf course on my left, and just beyond this I reached a road near Ringshall, opposite the car park where I'd intended to start this walk.
Golden Valley
The path along the drive on the edge of Ringshall, after I crossed the road
Further along the same path
The same path continuing beside the golf course
The same path continuing beside the golf course
I crossed the road and followed the broad path leading from car park through the woods of Ashridge, going straight on where a broad path came in on the left and then turning right at a path crossroads. About a hundred yards down this I turned left, then after another one or two hundred yards I turned right, with a larger car park now close by on my left. This path soon brought me to a road on the edge of Ringshall (to my right).
Chicken of the Woods mushroom, on a post at the car park near Ringshall
The path from the car park near Ringshall
The path after I turned right and then left, just before I turned right again
The path after I turned right again, near a car park on my left
Further along the same path