Pete's Walks- Hudnall Common, Dagnall and Ashridge (page 3 of 3)
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 crossed the road and followed a path a few yards into the wood on the other side until it reached a path T-junction, where I turned left (this doesn't quite match up with what the OS map shows). It was now a very simple matter to follow this path for about a mile and a quarter through the wood s of Ashridge. Being a fine Sunday afternoon there were a lot of other people about, but not so many that it detracted from the pleasure of walking through these splendid woods. I heard another fallow buck a long way over to my right at one point, at least the fourth one I'd heard this walk. I stopped to eat my packed lunch at one point, before continuing on my way. As before, paths went off left and right at regular intervals, but I just had to keep straight on until I reached a small car park and the Ringshall-Northchurch road.
The start of the path through Ashridge
The path through Ashridge
The path through Ashridge
The path through Ashridge
The path through Ashridge
The path through Ashridge
The path through Ashridge
Across the road, I continued along a permissive path (part of the Ashridge Estate Boundary Trail) which ran through a narrow belt of trees, with garden fences on my left and part of Ashridge Golf Course on my right. Further on there was a large garden hedge on my left, the path then continuing along the bottom of a small valley in another part of the woods of Ashridge. A drive to Ashridge House was on my left, gradually converging with my path.
The path beside the golf course
The path continuing beside garden hedges
The path continuing on close to the drive to Ashridge House
When the path eventually met the drive, I crossed over and followed the drive a short way to my right, before turning half-left along the bottom of a small valley, Golden valley. The bottom of the valley was a broad swathe of grass, flanked by heavily wooded slopes. It was a particularly attractive sight today, with the trees in their splendid Autumn colours. I followed the valley for several hundred yards, until I met a gravel drive coming from Ashridge House (hidden by the trees up to my right). Here I turned left and followed a permissive bridleway into the trees on my left. It rose fairly gently up the wooded hillside, almost doubling back on itself at a hairpin bend to reach a road in Little Gaddesden
The path continuing across the drive to Ashridge House
Golden Valley
Golden Valley
The bridleway from Golden Valley to Little Gaddesden
I went a few yards left along the road, then turned right onto a bridleway that started through a courtyard, then ran behind a wall on the left to reach a stable yard. Here it turned right then left, soon continuing between fences as it dropped into a small valley. In the bottom of the valley it turned left for one or two hundred yards, before turning right to rise up the other side of the valley next to a mature hedgerow on my left. It then ran for a short distance through a narrow bit of woodland, before reaching the lane at the top of Hudnall Common. My car was parked just a few yards to the left.
The bridleway from Little Gaddesden to Hudnall Common - it goes left along the valley bottom, then up beside the hedgerow
The bridleway to Hudnall Common
This was a very pleasant walk on a fine late October day. Seeing and hearing so many Fallow deer certainly added to the pleasure I got from the walk, though I did feel I was a little too close to a couple of the bellowing bucks - they can be aggressive during the 'Rut'. I really enjoyed seeing the trees in their Autumn colours, this was the first time this year I'd seen them on a bright sunny day and could really appreciate them. I enjoyed the route, a typical Chiltern mixture of field paths and woodland sections, with a couple of uphill and downhill sections. But I still think it is slightly better the other way round, because the views on the long descent from Ward's Hurst Farm past Hog Hall to Dagnall are better than those coming from Hoo Wood down to Dagnall.