Pete's Walks - Hudnall and Potten End (page 1 of 2)
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 did this circular walk of about 6.3 miles on Saturday, 3rd March, 2012. This was roughly a repeat of the 'Potten End and Little Gaddesden' walk that I did in January last year, but in the opposite (anti-clockwise) direction. On that occasion, it turned out that the lane to the car park at Hudnall was closed, so I had to change my plans and started the walk at Potten End instead. On this walk, I managed to start at the car park at Hudnall.
The weather forecast wasn't very promising for most of the weekend, so a Saturday afternoon walk was all I could really manage. In fact I had a bad back too, so a long walk was probably out of the question anyway. It was just past 2pm as I started walking from the car park at Hudnall. I went a few yards along the lane towards St Margaret's then turned right onto a bridleway to Little Gaddesden. This led through a small wood, then ran between hedges and fences as it skirted round some paddocks. It then passed through a stable yard before reaching a road in Little Gaddesden.
The view from the car park at Hudnall, looking across the Gade valley towards Studham
The start of the bridleway from Hudnall Common to Little Gaddesden
The bridleway to Little Gaddesden
Across the road another bridleway ran gently downhill through a wooded area, turning sharply right at one point. At the bottom of the slope I emerged into a broad stretch of grass in the Golden Valley, close to Ashridge House (hidden from views behind the tree on the opposite slope). I turned half-left and took a gently rising path up the other side of the valley, with pleasant view along the valley on my left. The path went through a gate and then ran between fences, before following a private road downhill to reach a drive to Ashridge House.
The bridleway from Little Gaddesden down into the Golden Valley near Ashridge House (the wall here had recently been repaired)
The bridleway from Little Gaddesden down into the Golden Valley near Ashridge House
The Golden Valley near Ashridge House (the route continues along the path going gradually uphill on the right)
The Golden Valley
The path continuing from the Golden Valley
Another view of the Golden Valley
Across the drive I passed through a small area of woodland, then turned left along the edge of a huge wood-lined area of grass with a small copse in it. Across another drive I went slightly left to follow a path through an attractive area of beech trees, part of Frithsden Beeches. I continued along this path for some distance through the woods, keeping straight on and going down and up a slight rise, until I came to a major path junction, where I turned left onto a section of the Hertfordshire Way.
The path to Frithsden beeches
Frithsden beeches
Frithsden Beeches
Frithsden beeches
Frithsden beeches