About the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail

The Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail is a 16-mile circular walk that goes round the National Trust’s Ashridge Estate, on the northern edge of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It was created in 1995 as part of the National Trust’s Centenary celebrations. It uses public rights of way and a few permissive paths to closely follow the edges of the estate. Much of the walk is through beautiful beech woods so typical of the Chilterns, with a few sections through fields for variety, and the highlight of the walk is probably Ivinghoe Beacon, with its extensive views over the Vale of Aylesbury and towards Dunstable Downs.

Galley Hill with Dunstable Downs beyond, from near Ivinghoe Beacon

The Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail can be walked in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction (it is waymarked in both directions), and can be started and finished on any point of its circular route. However, most people would probably start and finish at the Visitor Centre by the Bridgewater Monument because of its large parking space and facilities.

The Ashridge Estate publishes a small leaflet describing the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail, with a map of the route, although when I went to get one at the Visitor Centre they only had a photocopy. The area covered by the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail is all on OS Explorer map 181, although the route itself is not marked as such on the map. The leaflet is therefore essential.

Click here to see a very rough map of the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail (but only if you have already read my disclaimer and notes regarding maps).

Note: You can click on any of the smaller pictures in this journal to see them enlarged (click the 'Back' button of your browser to return to the journal). I have also numbered each photograph (in red) and inserted the same number in the text to show where in the walk the photo was taken.