Pete's Walks - Gaddesden Row and Briden's Camp (page 1 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.

Google map of the walk

(I used Alternative 1 as shown on the map)

I did this circular walk of about 9.5 miles on Saturday, 14th April 2018. It was a repeat of a walk I've done a few times before.

I parked on the road in Jockey End (the main settlement of Gaddesden Row) by the entrance to a small play ground (immediately after the last house on the left, heading southwest towards Hemel Hempstead - grid reference TL 042137). I started walking about 2pm, taking the footpath through the play ground which continued on between fences, with sheep and lambs in the field on my right. Soon there were fields either side, and the path dropped slightly downhill to reach the tree lined track named Dean Lane. I turned right here, immediately spotting my first Wood Sorrel of 2018. There were many Lesser Celandines also growing beside the track, and as I reached its end I spotted a Brimstone butterfly.

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The start of the path from Jockey End

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The path from Jockey End

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Dean Lane

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Wood Sorrell

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Dean Lane

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Dean Lane

I then crossed a road at a bend and continued gently uphill along a byway through Babies Wood. Beyond the wood the byway flattened out and ran between hedges with several mature trees - I spotted quite a large group of Fallow Deer on the far side of the large arable field on my left. The byway continued beside Newland's Wood on my left, and then at the end of this wood continued between old hedges again. I soon came to a point where the byway turned half-right (to shortly end by Gaddesden Row School), but I took a permissive bridleway going left (I'd passed another path going left shortly before this) that followed a hedgerow on the right (I usually use the public footpath here, on the other side of the hedge) to reach a minor road. A short way to the right, I turned left along a bridleway, initially with Teakettle Wood on my right. On reaching Upper Wood Farm, I turned left on a path that soon reached a gate and continued slightly downhill through a very muddy paddock (keeping just left of a line of telegraph poles). The path then crossed a field of cabbages to reach a corner of Puddephat's Lane.

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Babies Wood

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The byway continuing from Babies Wood towards Newland's Wood

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The byway passing Newland's Wood

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The byway continuing from Newland's Wood

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The permissive bridleway after I turned left from the byway (I usually use the public footpath here, on the other side of the hedge), heading towards the minor road

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The bridleway to Upper Wood Farm

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The path from Upper Wood Farm to Puddephat's Lane

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The path from Upper Wood Farm to Puddephat's Lane

I turned right along another byway, immediately passing Puddephat's Farm on my left. The byway continued between hedges and after a few hundred yards turned left - soon I was pleasantly surprised to see my first Bluebells of the year. Further on the byway turned right, and after another few hundred yards turned left again, passing a property named Nirvana and continuing along its drive to reach Green Lane.

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The start of the byway from Puddephat's Lane to Nirvana

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The byway from Puddephat's Lane to Nirvana

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The byway from Puddephat's Lane to Nirvana, just before it turns left

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The byway from Puddephat's Lane to Nirvana

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The byway from Puddephat's Lane to Nirvana, after it turns right

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The drive from Nirvana