ashridge forest – The Chilterns

Tree Routes

April 6, 2022May 14, 2023 by Mary Tebje, posted in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Chiltern Hills, hertfordshire, Travel in England, Visit England

If a tree falls in Ashridge Forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Shaking myself out of the winter slumber, I headed into Ashridge during the recent unseasonably warm weather. The forest was full with noisy life shaking off a winter slumber. The ambient light is washed out with remnants of a winter hue, with just a hint of green and clumps of spring flowers.

Avenue of trees — Foresters Walk follows an estate boundary

The forest is one of my favourite places to spend time enjoying the woodland throughout the year. I have followed so many animal trails and footpaths, visiting regularly and finding something new each time. Located on the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire borders, the Ashridge Estate is a seamless mixture of beechwoods, chalk downland, meadows, isolated buildings and small farms. It is a huge privilege to have access to this special place.

The mud was not too horrendous, so picking my way around fallen trees and storm debris not too slippery! Leo naturally heads for all the puddles.

along a route in Ashridge — A once busy barn is now quiet

Lumps and Bumps

This walk was all about the magnificent trees: big, small, young, ancient, bent, decaying, lightening-stuck or toppled. Before the foliage takes centre stage, I could image in a world turned upside down with their branches like their roots now pointing to the sky. Now it’s all about textures, lumps, bumps, moss and carvings, the various trees stand out including; cherry, beech, oak, chestnut, holly, conifers, hornbeams and ash trees. There will be others, but I don’t know their names.

The rat-a-tat of a woodpecker, squirrels making a racket as they race down tree trunks, along the floor, over the fallen trees and back up another tree. The landscape is exposed, open, with old boundaries and ditches visible. The birds busy themselves with protecting territories and preparing for the next generation to claim the forest.

The greening of the forest starts from the ground up; splashes of coltsfoot and winter aconite yellow, dog violet purple contrasts with the faded snowdrops and the emerging nettles. Bluebell shoots are widespread, the promise of colour in late spring before the leaf cover shuts out the light.

If a tree falls in Ashridge Forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

I’m surprised I didn’t hear the crashing trees as I only live a few miles away! Many of the old, majestic trees survived storm Eunice on February 18th, whilst some lie smashed on the ground, blocking paths, or narrowly missing trees, fences, gates and other obstacles.

Tree routes in Ashridge — Missing its neighbour, this tree exploded as it hit the ground

Tidying up is underway, but a tidy forest is not a healthy forest; nutrients from decaying trees are absorbed back into the woodland ecosystem, animals will find new homes and children will create more dens and castles.

This brown woodland will soon be transformed into shades of fresh green and bluebell blue.

Bluebells in ashridge — Ashridge Bluebells

Further Information

I have written extensively about the beautiful Ashridge Estate, you can read more here: do trees fall uphill? Winter shadows or pause awhile in the forest.

Spring in the Chiltern hills is the season when we shake off the gloom of winter and look forward to renewal. It’s the skylarks, snowdrops and then bluebells that increases the heart rate and knowledge that spring is not far off.

Take bluebells home with you when you buy from our range of Chilterns Gifts and Souvenirs.

Ashridge Forest, Paused

January 2, 2021May 14, 2023 by Mary Tebje, posted in Buckinghamshire, Chiltern Hills, Travel in England, Visit England

A day to gladden the heart! Despite the continuing lockdown, Ashridge Forest offers plenty of space and the guaranteed distance needed for enjoying the great outdoors.

Staying local

It’s the New Year, and months of continued uncertainty stretch ahead. I am fortunate in having many outdoor options that are local to me, where I can walk and feel almost that life is ‘as usual”.

A popular destination, Ashridge Forest draws visitors from far and wide. Covid-19 has made the great outdoors more appealing to locals and visitors, but it has put new pressures on our environment that organisations like the National Trust are still grappling with. Visitors tend to converge at the visitor centre or around Ivinghoe Beacon, but the forest is vast, so I can slip away down a muddy trail with Leo, the sounds of the forest and occasional walker to share my space.

Ashridge Forest Trails — The trails are quiet

Sounds are louder in winter; voices carry surprisingly far, as do dogs barking, bicycles swooshing through the grit and mud and the occasional shriek of a child as they climb and balance on fallen tree trunks.

I look for open spaces as I am getting wet walking under the bigger beech trees drip dripping with moisture.

Birdsong is louder too, accompanied by a flash of movement as bluejays, magpies and blackbirds flash up from the undergrowth, noticeable against the bare trees. The robins are already guarding their territories, singing their little hearts out.

The sun is low, but still warm in sheltered places where I can enjoy the sparking rain drops clinging onto leaf buds. I image some hardy insects having a sauna in the steam slowly rising from a log.

Bare trees in the winter sunshine — Winter sunshine finds its way through the trees

Signs of spring

At first sight, the forest floor is predominantly shades of bracken brown. However, taking an involuntary closer look, after an entanglement with some robust tree roots, turns out there are green shoots – some bluebells I expect, are early signs of spring.

Now Ashridge forest is laid bare, it looks untidy, branches tangled, huge boughs drooping, as though the trees have been turned upside down and the mass of roots are now visible – inverted. The decay of autumn trodden in and will soon fade as new growth takes hold.

The impassable becomes passable

As I walk beneath tree boughs that are normally thick with foliage and difficult to get through, the impassable becomes passable. The smaller tracks will become chocked with stinging nettles and brambles, others smothered in foliage.

The mud is something else! Thick, deep and sticky enough to loose your boots in. I have walked these trails many times, but each time is different; berries in various stages of growth or decay, views that open or close depending if the leaves are on the trees or under your feet. When the bracken is green, it blends in perfectly with the trees, and can be quite visually suffocating.

A beautiful view opens up — Only available in winter

A re-purposed saw pit

An old saw pit has filled up with wood and algae floating amongst grasses, mysterious air bubbles popping to the surface. It’s too cold for frogs, so what could it be? Gas from decaying organic matter?

A quiet winter pond in Ashridge Forest in the great outdoors — A quiet winter pond

I spot an elder tree with the peculiar ‘jelly ear’ (or wood ear) growing along a branch. Found in most places, this edible species of Auriculariales fungus is distinguished by its noticeably ear-like shape and colouration.

Its specific epithet is derived from the belief that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree; the common name “Judas’s ear” was largely eclipsed by the corruption “Jew’s ear”, while today “wood ear”, “jelly ear” and other names are preferred.

Green moss covers the lower tree trunks in the great outdoors — Winter socks for the trees

It gets cold quickly, and I head home before my fingers are numb. Most walks show me something new, or it’s that I have simply noticed new things. I know that when next I visit, the forest will have changed again; new sounds, more birds, more early, optimistic Chilterns growth. There is however, the potential for snow and ice, which will make the forest even quieter and fun to explore.

Stay safe!

Further Information

I have written extensively about Ashridge Forest, Ashridge House and the great outdoors that surrounds this beautiful region.

The monastery and monks are long gone, buildings destroyed, treasures looted and the monks banished during the 16th century Dissolution of Monasteries on the orders of King Henry Vlll. Read about the once Flourishing Ashridge Trade.

In my day job I say ‘to expect the unexpected’ when visiting the Chilterns, but this outing really is the unexpected! In this quiet corner of the northern Chilterns, in St Margarets, Great Gaddesden you will find the Amaravati Buddhist monastery.

Just like an antique rug, with unravelled threads, blemishes, bald patches and stains, once you begin to look, you see these Ashridge threads in fact link across the Chilterns, even the nation, presenting a tantalising picture of this wonderful place and its story.

Enjoy more walks across the region on the Beyonder walks website along the Thames, woodland and churches.

Enjoy the Chilterns at home with our NEW range of Chilterns-inspired gifts and souvenirs. UK orders only.

Includes Goring and Streatley — A celebration of the Chiltern Hills – a field guide

Of Buddhists’ and Beechwoods

October 16, 2019May 14, 2023 by Mary Tebje, posted in Chiltern Hills, Visit England

I had joined a mindfulness walk during our Chilterns Walking Festival that would take us from the surprisingly peaceful Gade Valley behind Ashridge, along dappled woodland paths, past a manor house, down tiny sunken lanes, into a church yard with an impressive puddingstone and tombstones (one declaring the contents were once ‘a gent’ from 1740), and out again through a pretty hamlet. We stopped often to enjoy the views across the valley, discuss the dire condition of the chalk streams, realise there would never be a shortage of flint, search for berries and listen to the autumn birdsong.

So far, so typical of the Chilterns

I have walked past the Amaravati Buddhist monastery many times, en route between Nettleden, Ashridge and Frithsden, but have never gone in. I never thought to sit quietly in the gardens or even visit the temple for peaceful reflection.

The Amaravati temple dominates the site — The temple dominates the site

The Valley of Nettles

When Nettleden became a parish, the hamlet of St Margaret’s, ( once belonging to the parish of Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire), was connected to Nettleden. At this place Henry de Blois bishop of Winchester founded the nunnery St Margaret’s de Bosco. After the Dissolution in 1539, St Margaret’s came into private hands. During the Second World War the St Margaret’s Camp was a London County Council Senior Boys School for evacuees from London. The school closed one week after the end of the war in Europe, when all the boys were returned back to their homes.

Since 1984 it has been home to the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery.

A Bonshō Buddhist temple bell — Bonshō are used to mark the passage of time and to call the monks to liturgical services

The monastery’s founder and abbot was Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Chah’s foremost disciple in the West. In Autumn 2010 he handed over to the English monk Ajahn Amaro, who for the past 15 years had been co-abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California. Its aims are the training and support of a resident monastic community, and the facilitation for monastic and lay people alike for the practice of the Buddha’s teachings.

The configuration of several large huts has remained largely unchanged, and gives the site the look and feel of somewhere in Scandinavia . The addition of a purpose-built temple that was officially opened on 4 July 1999 by Princess Galyani Vadhana, sister of the King of Thailand is quite the feature.

In the Pali language ‘Amaravati’ means ‘deathless realm’

It is appropriate perhaps that we visited in the autumn, the colour of renunciation and their robes of yellow, browns and oranges. It is also the month when life slows and foliage burns bright before falling to rot beneath the beechwoods.

An extract from a Dhamma article by Ajahn Amaro: “When the Buddha said that ‘… the mindful do not die’, he did not mean that the body of a mindful person is never going to stop breathing and rot away. No. The Buddha’s body died, just like anyone else’s. When he said that the mindful never die, it meant that when the mind is awake it is not identified with the born and the dying….outside of the realm of time, individuality and space; not definable in terms of time, personality, location: ‘There is neither a coming nor a going, nor a standing still. Neither progress, nor degeneration. Neither this world, nor the other world.” Something to ponder? Although I think to truly understand mindfulness, I would need to book a weekend retreat at the monastery.

This is a special place. Join those who visit from all over the world, who come to spend a few hours or for a day, others staying for the weekend. You won’t be disappointed!

Further Information:

Both the monastery and retreat centre are run entirely on donations. In accordance with the tradition established by the Buddha, the monastic community has relied for its material well-being on unsolicited offerings of food and other requisites from the lay community. To find out more about weekend retreats and events at the monastery.

A day to gladden the heart! Despite the continuing lockdown, Ashridge Forest offers plenty of space and the guaranteed distance needed for enjoying the great outdoors.

The Chilterns are full of fun, quirks and inspiration. Find yours here.

The unnavigable River Gade rises at nearby Dagnall and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watford through Cassiobury Park, passing Croxley Green until it reaches Rickmansworth, where it joins the River Colne.

A new range of Chilterns gifts and souvenirs

Framed Chilterns Posters — A Year in the Chilterns on your wall. The NEW range of Chilterns gifts and souvenirs

Growing Stones

September 10, 2018May 14, 2023 by Mary Tebje, posted in Chiltern Hills

Ashridge gardens are a magical place of mythical puddingstone’s, Totternhoe stone, Humphry Repton and an acorn from a queen.

Each time I visit Ashridge, I am inspired by the stories I uncover: religious relics, sunken lanes, a landscape of contrasts, abandoned masonry, animal trails, a vineyard, the wild and the managed. All within a glorious 5,000 acres of Chilterns woodland.

Ashridge weather vane on growing stones — Fan vaulting and tracery on the ceiling of the tower, with a dial that displays the position of the weathervane on the roof.

A Chilterns Tapestry

Steel Magnolia

Royal Connections

A mason’s paradise

Inside one of the two living beech houses that overlook the restored herb garden

Garden Design

Ashridge Gardens extend an impressive 190 acres across a reasonably flat site in an otherwise undulating and hilly landscape. Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown designed the northern and eastern part of the gardens and famous Golden Valley. It is the gardens south of the house, originally designed by Humphry Repton (1752 -1818), in the early 19th century, that we were here to explore. In good company, Repton, William Kent and ‘Capability’ Brown share the honour of being the three most famous 18th century landscape designers and gardeners.

From 1808 to 1813 the architect James Wyatt crafted, from local Totternhoe ‘soft’ stone and lashings of flint, an Ashridge House to claim the high-point above the undulating Golden Valley and surrounding forest.

Peaceful and colourful ashridge house gardens — The peaceful gardens

The grounds to the rear of the house are dominated by the extensive lawn leading onto avenues of trees inviting you to explore further, with the promise of tantalising views of the surrounding area.

Maple tree in Ashridge House — The maple signals the change of season

On a closer look, the garden is made up of a number of smaller gardens and discrete areas, each the focus for Mick Thompson and his team. Working on the restoration of the Rosary, an Armorial Garden, the Italian Garden and the Flower Garden that have retained strong links with their designer and visionary, Repton.

Reptons' drawing of his rosary garden — Humphry Repton’s 1813 Rosary Drawing

Puddingstone’s

The county line between Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire runs right through the garden, and is now marked by a puddingstone no less. Once disputed, with Buckinghamshire laying claim to more than their due, this conglomerate rock has symbolically won the day!

Ashridge house southern garden — A cluster of puddingstone’s marks the Souterrein

You can see the puddingstone’s tumbled about the entrance to the grotto and souterrein tunnel that have been constructed using this very hard conglomerate. The estate has the largest collection of puddingstone’s, possibility the largest supply in the world! How and when they are formed is a mystery, but Hertfordshire folk have never been in doubt ̶ it grows, and then gives birth to new stones. This is because stones appear out of the ground, which has given rise to the names “Growing Stone” and “Breeding Stone”.

A fitting addition to this garden

The restored rose garden — The view of the house from the restored rose garden

The Italian Garden and the arbour for the Rose Garden (now framed with laburnum trees), have been restored to their original design.

What made it for me was the magnificent oak, dominating the lawn, its massive trunk and spreading limbs are just perfect. I stood and stared. Perhaps I was drawn to it because I was reminded of an oak tree in my garden when I was a child. This oak however, was planted in 1823 by a young Princess Victoria to commemorate her visit to Ashridge. How will it be commemorated in 2023? I took an acorn home for my son.

Oak tree planted by princess Victoria in 1823 — At a mere 199 years old, the magnificent Princess Victoria oak steals the show

Ashridge is a compelling story, made up of the majestic and the mundane. I just know I am going to go on following those loose threads and blemishes to see what they reveal.

Heritage Open Days

My visit was on a Repton Garden Tour, an event in the excellent Heritage Open Days programme organised by Jenny Sherwood of the Berkhamsted Local Historical & Museum Society. The wonderful tour was led by the charming and knowledgeabe Mick Thompson, head gardener at Ashridge House. Thank you both.

I must confess that after this delightful garden tour, I still can’t remember many plant, shrub nor tree names! Apart from the oak, that really caught my eye. But that says more about me than it does Mick.

Further information

Information on tours of the house and gardens can be found here. Holy relics were once big business, read about the Ashridge relics here.

Further information on the designs and Repton’s work can be found here:

I have walked past the Amaravati Buddhist monastery many times, enjoying the many routes from Frithsden and Ashridge, but have never gone in. I never thought to. To sit quietly in the gardens or even visit the temple for peaceful reflection.

Book a table for lunch at the popular Alford Arms in nearby Frithsden. The first gin distillery in Hertfordshire, named after the iconic stone, can be found at Wilstone Reservoir, just five minutes from Tring.

Take a walk around the medieval stone quarry at Totternhoe, seven miles from Ashridge..

A selection of images on this website are available to purchase. Take a look at this page, and if you don’t see what you are looking for, please get in touch.

St Bartholomew’s church at Fingest is a unique Norman church

Do Trees Fall Uphill?

March 1, 2018January 25, 2021 by Mary Tebje, posted in The Chilterns, Travel and Tourism, Travel blogging

I love the wide open winter vistas. They reveal unexpected views and spaces, the shadows long. A raw wind causes the bare tree tops to clatter and scratch against one another, loud on the otherwise still hillside.

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Charles Riborg Mann and George Ransom Twiss.

The younger trees sway about like drunk patrons, crashing into one another

The Ashridge estate is huge; with over 5,000 acres of woodlands and many visitors not straying far from the toilets, cafe and carpark, the chances are always good you’ll have the other 4,999 acres pretty much to yourself.

Heading off-piste

What looked like the aftermath of a great disturbance with piles of flint, up-ended trees, mounds of excavated chalk and the biggest wall of roots I’d ever seen, awaited us as we headed off-piste to follow the animal trails that branch off the well-trodden Ashridge Forest Sunday paths.

Heading downhill through the trees, it’s only as the track became even narrower and I have to watch where I am walking, that I notice the toppled trees interspersed with tightly-packed new growth, enjoying a few years of space before they are muscled out. These upended beeches, all pointing uphill, whilst the oaks, needing space have jumped the fence and taken root in the field alongside.

The oaks needs space to stretch out and breath — The oaks need space to stretch and breath

Keeping everything out. Or in?

This scene of furious activity by nature’s hand, not human, looks surreal; big pieces of scattered flint, stones, numerous piles of chalk excavated by badgers as they enlarge their extensive hillside homes, even trees turning to dust. The leaf litter is still thick, and covers ankle-twisting holes and rocks, and still the barely visible track leads on along the edge of the tree line, very straight, there is no mistaking the intention of this boundary. In places the original iron fence has been replaced by wood, then barbed wire simply rolled over the gaps that will keep everything out. Or in. The contrast between the carefully managed fields and the disarray and upheaval behind me couldn’t be greater. The former almost lifeless, the latter bursting with life.

fullsizeoutput_3df9 — A mound of excavated chalk, stones and flint mark the entrance to a den

Wide open winter vistas revealing the unexpected view back down the valley rising up to Wiggington and Wendover. This seasonal sight will close up, like a theatre curtain draws over the view as the trees spring back into life. A crow hangs lazily on the wind.

Excited barking

Leo is spooked by something, so scrambles onto a log, growling and begins to bark. Suddenly, the hillside comes alive as a small herd of deer crash through the trees, in flight from another excited barking dog, The deer however, have the upper hand, they know all the tracks and escape routes. They sweep past us, twice. I bet they know this is a Sunday morning, their least favourite day of the week!

Next up on the weirdness scale, a wall of roots and stones, at least 10 foot in circumference, that shields a well-trampled clearing, a good spot for the deer? What forces were at work to upend such a large tree, revealing this stoney underworld apron?

The aerated soil is crunchy underfoot, a mix of pebbles, beechnuts, and twigs. We pass a large saw pit, criss-crossed with bike tracks as we follow a well-used single track uphill. The vegetation on this sunny slope quickly changes from the stark to timid signs of the first primroses and what will be another grand display of bluebells in April or May, their tiny leaves breaking through the leaf cover.

Do trees only fall uphill? From my unscientific study, I’d say yes they do. However, I was delighted to see that here and there, rebel trees had thrown themselves onto the fence downhill, in some places crushing it flat beneath their weight. Result!

fullsizeoutput_3df6 — The one that got away!

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? I would say it does. And judging from the unceasing movement and change that this stretch of forest has undergone, it must be a daily occurrence and therefore could be heard.

Voices carry on the wind and I know it’s time to head home.

During the Covid-19 restrictions, please exercise locally, keeping your distance where you can.

Further Information:

The Ashridge estate is vast, and Ashridge House, located down the grand avenue from the visitor centre, is treasure trove of local tales and spectacular events.

For further Chilterns inspiration and ideas and to visit the Ashridge Estate

We have recently launched a new online Chilterns retail service, Chilterns Gifts, selling individual gifts and souvenirs inspired by the naturally outstanding Chiltern Hills. Deliveries to the UK only.