Ashridge House

Carol's Mum is 87 today & in honour of her birthday we treated her to a magical mystery tour. We drove to Travellers Rest Xrds, Edlesborough where we turned right towards Dagnall. At the Xrds there we turned right & stopped as I wanted to take a picture of the ecumenical church which is quite an unusual design. From there we went on to Little Gaddesdon where we took the sign for the Business School which is what Ashridge House is now. We saw several deer in the woods here before we came upon this fantastic house set in a large estate now National Trust.

The house started life as a monastery 700years before becoming a seat of learning in the late 1200s set up by a Cornish feller. When Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries it became his property & he bequeathed it to his children Elizabeth, Mary & Edward where they lived briefly. Soon after that if was bought by a chap along with a Dukedom (Bridgewater). An ancestor made lots of money by creating a network of canals across Britain & in the 1800s altered the building dramatically into what is seen today. It has had lots of functions since then including a school for young ladies & an overflow hospital for Charing Cross during the war. Since 1959 it had become a world renowned business school of excellence.

From there I got lost but eventually we arrived at the Duke of Bridgewater Monument located in Ashridge Park. Here we ate lunch & had an ice cream. Once we had eaten our fill we went home via Aldbury & Tring. Home by 2:30.

Daph is flaked out on the sofa waiting for her dinner comprising of roast lamb & new potatoes which we will eat shortly......well its not every day that you are 87.

Its probably obvious what the music is.....