Hertfordshire - Ashwell

 After WGS we travelled all the way to Ashwell, 20 miles away.

We stayed on the Ashridge Farm Caravan Club site 10 minutes walk from the centre of Ashwell. This was a really good centre for our activities of biking (Stuart), geocaching, visiting places and even for friends to drop in.

Ashridge Farm Caravan Club site reception

   

Ashwell dates back to about 1350, but it wasn’t until the 19th century that it saw any real growth with straw plaiting, coprolite extraction and brewing. The first two industries declined in the late 1800’s and then the breweries closed in the early 1900’s. Ashwell is now a dormitory town and we could see that many of the old properties had been renovated or were in the process of.

The Guild House – built in 1681
The fancy plaster work is know as ‘pargetting’

Foresters’ Cottages

   

Houses in Springhead

The Lychgate – Mill Street One of the few double lychgates in the country.

 

St. Mary’s Church, Ashwell

We visited Carol, who lives in Letchworth, 10 minutes away. We were pleased to see both her children and two grandchildren. On arrival we walked into a water fight – it was very hot.

 

Clare in the garden

Shopping in Letchworth

 

Water features in Letchworth

   

David and Carol visited us for a day. We managed a geocaching walk in the countryside which was very nice because it was cooler than around the village. This was followed by an al fresco meal.

    

Close to the site was this wonderful field of poppies.

On one of my cycle rides I saw these two vehicles which were a little out of place. One is a New York Taxi cab and the other a Renault 4 from France with ‘Gendarmarie’ down the side.

   

Former dovecote in Guilden Morden 17th century – now a dwelling.

From Ashwell we visited the Shuttleworth Collection of planes plus air show and the Henry Moore Sculpture park. I have rather a lot of photos of both these visits so I will put them in a separate blog.

Notice seen in an Ashwell shop window