Gade Valley Route - Jockey End to Gt. Gaddesden

START & FINISH: The Green at Jockey End Herts HP2 6JD. Grid ref: TL 039 137.

(S/E) Starting from The Green in Jockey End, walk 250m along South Dene past the houses to the edge of the hamlet until you reach a footpath on right, signposted ‘Hertfordshire Way Great Gaddesden 1¾ miles’. Take this path and follow Hertfordshire Way signs all the way to Great Gaddesden. The path first goes through allotments and an orchard.

(1) At a metal kissing gate by an oak tree go straight on across fields. As you meet a fence corner near the first of the manor houses on this walk ((A) the Hoo), keep straight on with the fence on your left. Go straight ahead through a kissing gate near the Hoo. Keeping the fence on your left, walk straight on for 500m to Hoo Wood. Continue along the left-hand side of the wood. At the bottom of the field go through a gate into the edge of the wood (most of the trees have been cleared here). Follow the path downhill to another gate. 

(2) Leave the wood through a gate and descend diagonally across a large field with views of Great Gaddesden in the valley. At the road, cross over and go through a gate opposite to enter the sometimes marshy water meadows of the (B) Gade chalk stream. Bear slightly right to the footbridge. Cross the bridge and turn left to walk across the water meadows towards the village of (C) Great Gaddesden , then turn left along the road past housing.  Continue to a T-junction. (After the village school, you can turn right to visit Great Gaddesden church).

(3) Turn right for a few metres and cross the road. Continue along a driveway signed Sybden House and then take the footpath to the left of the house gates. This path passes between a field hedge and garden fence, then opens out into a field. Continue straight along the field edge to the corner. Pass through the fence and turn half-left to a footbridge.

(4) From this point you follow Chiltern Way signs crossing the footbridge. The path goes between houses to the B440 Dagnall Road. Turn right for a few metres then cross to a wooden footpath gate on the opposite side of the road. Be careful - there is fast traffic and poor visibility here. Go straight on through two gates to enter parkland, climbing uphill towards a metal gate in the middle of the fence with the (D) Gaddesden Place mansion beyond. Pass through a clump of trees to a gate in the left-hand fence. Continue uphill to the left of the formal gardens to a gate around to the left. 

(5) Pass through the gate and turn left, downhill to a gate and fingerpost. Once through this gate, take the clear grassy track that follows the line of electricity poles across the field. Enter Marsh Wood on a track and keep straight ahead to the end of the wood. After leaving the wood keep straight ahead on the stony drive that leads towards the (E) Golden Parsonage.

(6) At the end of the driveway by a hedge and gate, walk diagonally left across two paddocks with (F) Sweet Chestnut trees and views of the old house to your right. 

(7) Turn left through a kissing gate then follow the fenced path round to the right before turning left again along the left edge of a field. When you meet a drive turn left through a gate towards The Lane House. Turn immediately right past a pond and go through a series of fields.

(8) On reaching a lane turn right for a few metres, then left through a gap in the hedge and through paddocks to reach the oak tree and kissing gate by point 1. Turn right through the allotments to return to Jockey End.(S/E) 

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TERRAIN: An easy walk with one hill up to Gaddesden Place.

START & FINISH: The Green at Jockey End Herts HP2 6JD. Grid ref: TL 039 137. An alternative start point is Hemel Hempstead Garden Centre in Great Gaddesden HP1 3BY. Grid ref: TL 031 114

FOOD & DRINK: Café at Hemel Hempstead Garden Centre, Great Gaddesden.

NEARBY PUBS: The Crown and Sceptre at Bridens Camp and The Red Lion at Water End

PARKING: Roadside parking at The Green in Jockey End or in the overflow car park at Hemel Hempstead Garden Centre, Great Gaddesden.

LOCAL TRANSPORT: From Great Gaddesden: Bus 30 runs between Hemel Hempstead and Aldbury on Mondays to Saturdays; Bus 32 runs between Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted on Mondays to Saturdays; Bus 175 runs between Hemel Hempstead and Edlesborough on Mondays to Fridays

This walk was created for the book "50 Great Walks in the Chilterns".

(A) THE HOO is a Grade II listed country house built c1683 for Dr Edward Green and set in parkland designed by Capability Brown. Hoo Wood is important species-rich beech and ash woodland.

(B) THE RIVER GADE is a chalk stream that rises in the hills around Dagnall and flows down to join the river Colne at Rickmansworth.

(C) GREAT GADDESDEN: The village takes its name from the river Gade and was known at Domesday as ‘Gadesdene’. Discoveries of bricks and tiles are, however, evidence of Roman occupation. The road through Gaddesden Row and Jockey End is thought to be a Roman route from St Albans to Ivinghoe Beacon. St John the Baptist Church is Grade I listed. The building probably dates from c1180-1200 but was erected on the site of a pre-Christian sanctuary.

(D) GADDESDEN PLACE is a Grade II listed Palladian style country house built in 1768 for the Halsey family. It’s an early example of the work of James Wyatt, who was later famous for Fonthill Abbey, and The Pantheon in London. The house was gutted by fire in 1905 and subsequently rebuilt.

(E) THE GOLDEN PARSONAGE: The earliest records of buildings on the site are from the 16th century. The current house was built for Thomas Halsey in the 17th century and enlarged in 1705. The earlier part was demolished in 1774 leaving only the 18th century wing. The house was used as a school between 1875 and 1935, then restored to domestic occupation.

(F) SWEET CHESTNUTS: Most of these old sweet chestnut trees are thought to be survivors of those planted in the 18th century. They were laid in the shape of HH for Henshaw Halsey, the owner at the time.