Pete's Walks - Ashridge and Berkhamsted Common (page 5 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.
When I drew level with a small copse in the meadow, I took a path that entered the woods on my right. After three or four hundred yards I forked left through some bracken to reach a small area of beech trees. I then continued along the path, which after a few hundred yards entered an open area of bracken where it curved right.
The start of the path after I turned right from the huge meadow
Further along the same path
Further along the same path, after I forked left (through some bracken) and passed through a small area of beech trees
Further along the same path
The path ended when it met a bridleway, where I turned left (a drive to Ashridge House was now a hundred yards or so to my right). After a few hundred yards I crossed a drive near Woodyard Cottages and continued along the bridleway, which fairly soon ended when it met another bridleway running along beside a huge pasture, where I turned left.
The bridleway after I turned left at the end of the path
Further along the bridleway
The bridleway where it crosses a drive near Woodyard Cottages (to my right)
The bridleway after I crossed the drive
The bridleway after I crossed the drive
This bridleway was very familiar to me, I can remember walking it frequently as long ago as the 1980's. After a few hundred yards I reached a corner of the huge pasture on my right, where I turned right on a path that stayed close to the pasture. When I did this walk in November 2023 I went wrong by staying close to the edge of the pasture when it turned went half-right, but today I correctly went straight on through the wood at this point. After I while I joined a surfaced drive, continuing in more or less the same direction. This soon brought me to Prince's Riding - this is a grassy ride, about a mile and a half long, between Ashridge House and the Bridgewater Monument. I turned left and followed Prince's Riding toward the monument. After a few hundred yards I reached a road. After crossing the road I had the drive to the monument just to my left, and in just under another half mile I reached the car park where I'd started (on the other side of the drive).
The bridleway after I turned left, beside a huge pasture enclosed by woods
Further along the same bridleway
The path after I turned right, following another side of the huge pasture
Further along the same path, close to where it moves away from the pasture
Further along the same path
The drive
Prince's Riding
Prince's Riding, approaching the Bridgewater Monument
I had enjoyed this walk very much when I did it in November 2024 and did so again today. Not for the first time, I really appreciated having such a wonderful area for walking as Ashridge within just a few miles of my home. The vast majority of the walk was in woodland, so it's not quite as varied as most of my routes (though I didn't mind that at all), and it was also very flat, with only a couple of very minor bits of uphill. But I'd certainly be very happy to walk it again.