Friday's Walk - Ashridge Estate & Aldbury Village

With Friday being a lovely bright Autumn day we headed off out to Ashridge Estate for a walk.

There is a great cafe at Ashridge Estate open all year round so we arrived for an early lunch before heading off.  This time we decided to try a completely different route which ended up in the charming village of Aldbury.

A charming thatched house is seen over the hedge.

Cottages with open gardens.

The charm of this village is evident by the houses seen.

I stopped and spoke to one gentleman who had just come out of his house and he told me he had lived  in the village for 20 years and never tired of it.  He said that the location has been used for various TV shows and films over the years.

All so pretty - and of course the lovely bright day adds to the beauty.

Village pond.

Stocks and Whipping post.

The village church St John the Baptist

This quintessential English church was restored in 1867.  Apparently (as we couldn't go in due to having Percy with us) it is notable for the Verney Chapel which is separated from the nave by a screen of stone.  The church contains memories of the families Hides and Harcourts who left charities to the poor of the parish.  It also contains a monument of Sir Robert Wittingham who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.

One of the village pubs.

More photos as we walked around this charming village.  I took quite a few as hope to paint a couple of the cottages at some stage.

This scene has obviously been taken before by numerous visitors as it was featured on some postcards and on the Wikipedia page of the village!