Hiking with straw plaits, sheep dip and Domesday

Berkhamstead Castle
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An excert published from the Weekend Argus Travel supplement by Karen Watkins

In March 2005 the British Daily Mail newspaper published an article featuring Ashridge Estate as being one of the ten best woodlands in Britain to view bluebells. This brought back memories from childhood of picking armloads of these beautiful deep blue flowers, so I went to explore the area.

Magnificent parkland and woods and a canal-building Duke’s extravagant mansion

Grand Union Canal, totem pole reportedly charmed with mystical fertility symbols!
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Spring has got to be the best time to be in England, with fields full of lambs and flowers and trees sprouting new growth. Negotiating the extensive network of paths in Ashridge Forest, I was suddenly startled by a small herd of deer.

Straddling the borders of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire is the 1600 hectare Ashridge Estate.

I had set out from picture-postcard Aldbury with its lattice-windowed, half-timbered cottages. In the centre of the village is a triangular green with a duck pond and stocks, under a willow tree. It came as no surprise to learn that the village is popular with filmmakers.

Aldbury village pond, stocks and buildings
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Protruding above the rooftops and enclosed by forest, is the 76-metre Bridgewater Monument. It was built in 1832 in memory of the canal-building Duke of Bridgewater, who became known as the ‘father of British inland waterways’. The newspaper article mentioned climbing to the platform of the monument underneath the bronze dome. After climbing to the monument I was tempted to give the 180 steps a miss, but didn’t, and yes, the view was worth it with magnificent views across the Chilterns.

From Bridgewater Monument to Ashridge House and Ashridge Estate
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Afterwards, my reward was scrumptious cake and coffee at the visitor centre, before setting off along the mile-long Prince’s Riding - an avenue with an uninterrupted view from the monument to Ashridge House. The neo-Gothic mansion of Ashridge House has been called a wedding cake by some, with its turrets and battlements. It was home to Elizabeth I and is where she was offered the crown of England.

On another day I hiked the final section of the prehistoric Ridgeway to Ivinghoe Beacon on the border of Ashridge Estate. This 137-km trail starts from Overton Hill near Avebury, Wiltshire, with its famous stone circle.

Ashridge House in Ashridge Estate
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The view across the Vale of Aylesbury was endless and ascending the final climb to the beacon there were many walkers and kite-flyers. But I was more excited by what looked like a White Horse (although more like a lion), on a nearby hill. At the Wiltshire end of the Ridgeway Path are a number of White Horse figures, carved into the clay many years ago. Asking a group of Rambler’s members about the lion, I was told that it is in fact ‘The White Lion of Whipsnade Zoo’!

Of all the Chiltern towns Berkhamsted shares a unique intimacy between town, canal and railway and is a good base while exploring the area. This charming historic town lies in the valley of the River Bulbourne, split by the Grand Union Canal and railway, with hi speed trains careening through linking London to the northwest.

Berkhamsted is best known for its Castle and climbing over the impressive earthworks, I soaked up the atmosphere going back to 1066 and the best remembered date in English history. It was here that Saxon leaders offered the crown of England to William the Conqueror, following his infamous victory at the battle of Hastings.

Berkhamsted’s busy main road is lined with an eclectic mix of contemporary shops in a melange of architectural styles, Tudor courthouse, neo-Gothic timber-framed restaurant and a Victorian baker’s shop. Recently, at 173 High Street, experts from English Heritage found a section of hall which they dated around 1257, making it the oldest timber-framed urban dwelling in England.

The town’s culture connections reached modern times with Graham Greene living just off the High Street. A frequent visitor was J.M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pann, H E Todd of Bobbie Brewster fame and William Cowper, whose words ‘God moves in a mysterious way’ are now part of our language.

In the valley floor, the Grand Union Canal was opened in 1798 linking London with the industrial north. An out-of-place site on the banks of the canal is a genuine Canadian totem pole, carved from red cedar wood from British Columbia. It was a gift and reminder - from suppliers in western Canada - of the long-standing link between a succession of canal-side timber and boat-building yards. It is reportedly charmed with mystical fertility symbols!

At the time of the Domesday Book, the fast-flowing Bulbourne River powered two water mills serving grain producers of the area. Berkhamsted was also one of the centres of the straw plaiting industry, with over 400 straw plaiters serving the hat makers of Luton and Dunstable.

On the other hand, Berkhamsted has the dubious reputation of being the home of sheep dip! In 1852 William Cooper experimented with arsenic and sulphur to produce the world’s best-known and most effective sheep dip.