Tring Park and beyond, Tring Parish

Start : Frogmore Street East car park (behind Dolphin Square and the Church of St Peter & St Paul) Grid ref. SP 923 115

(S/E) From Frogmore Street East car park enter the High Street via Dolphin Square shopping arcade. Cross the road to Bank Alley (just to the left of Lussmanns). Follow the alley up to a junction.

(1) Turn left (signed Tring Park). Continue to follow the alley all the way up to Park Street, with the Natural History Museum on your right.

(2) The footpath continues across the road and over a footbridge into Tring Park (A).

(3) The footbridge crosses the A41 Bypass, which in 1975 cut across the fine 18th century parkland. An avenue of large-leaved Limes is immediately obvious from the footbridge. Throughout the lower parklands, many splendid specimen trees can be found.

(4) Bear left across the park to a gate into the steep woodlands, then climb up through the trees on the track to the left. Ahead is an obelisk dedicated to Nell Gwynne. Continue uphill to the frontage of an early 18th century summerhouse.

(5) The track then bears to the right – follow this to a gate and turn left onto the Ridgeway National Trail. Continue along this broad path.

(6) After 100m take a smaller footpath to the right, just before the edge of the Park. After 400m you reach a private road (Upper Tring Park), turn left onto this road, and almost immediately right into Common Field. Follow this road down to its junction with Wick Road. Cross to a footpath across the playing field to a small car park, to join Chesham Road.

(7) Turn right onto Chesham Road and follow this for about 400m to the end of Wigginton village. Just past a ‘pinch’ in the road take a footpath to the right, through a gate and cross the field to another gate (obscured by a Holly bush).

(8) Go through that gate and bear left across the field. Head South towards the distant treeline of Roundhill Wood, crossing land that was once Common Land attached to Tring Parish Church until it was enclosed in 1797. Pass through a further two gates to reach the trees.

(9) Do not enter the wood, but follow the path along the outside edge of the wood to a junction. Go through the gate into the wood then sharp right onto a path now just inside the wood to meet Kiln Lane (so named because of the many brickworks once common to the area). This lane is bounded on each side by a magnificent Hornbeam hedge. On the other side of the lane is a path into High Scrubs Wood.

(10) Follow this path through the woods to the green lane known as Browns Lane. Turn right and,
ignoring all crosspaths, follow the lane (about 2 Km) to a road junction at the village of Hastoe.

(11) Here, turn left onto the road, then immediately right onto a track up towards Hastoe Grove. Take the path to the right of Hastoe Grove and descend the Holloway (deeply sunken pathway), again ignoring all crosspaths, to West Leith and Duckmore Lane.

(12) Go under the bypass and continue down the lane.

(13) At the T-junction with the main road turn right and then right again into Park Road which will eventually lead to Akeman Street, where a visit to the Natural History Museum is recommended.

(14) Return to the High Street via Akeman Street and the car park via Dolphin Square or Frogmore Street. (S/E)

Start & Parking : Frogmore Street East car park (behind Dolphin Square and the Church of St Peter & St Paul) Grid ref. SP 923 115

Terrain: This route follows definitive rights of way, permissive paths and quiet roads.

Note : Please follow the Country Code.
• Leave gates in the position you find them
• Leave only your own footprints
• Take away your litter
• Keep dogs under control
Do wear sensible clothing for your own comfort. Strong footwear is recommended, particularly after rain; you may encounter some muddy stretches on this route.

Find more information and walks at Tring Town Council here.

(A) Tring Park boasts the second largest area of chalk downland left in the county. Recent careful management of the parkland and escarpment has meant that Site of Special Scientific Interest designation has been extended across this entire area. The slopes of the valleys within the parkland have the impoverished soils typical of the high chalk scarp slope. Consequently they provide the right environment for a varied flora with attendant insects and micro-organisms.
The lower slopes and valley bottoms are very attractive to mice and voles. These have prompted the return of the Barn Owl. Kestrels and Red Kites find a ready food supply in the park. In some winters they have been joined in the hunt by Long-eared Owls. Another winter visitor in some numbers, the Meadow Pipit, has been known to stay on in the spring to breed. In the woods above the Park many different species of bird breed, including all three British Woodpeckers, Nuthatch, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and other typical woodland species.
Mammals such as Badgers, Foxes, Grey Squirrels and Muntjac Deer make their homes among the Ashes, Oaks, Beeches, Hornbeams, Limes and Maples. Butterflies include the Speckled Wood, Orange-tip, Tortoiseshell, Wall, Meadow Brown, Marbled White, Peacock and other species.
Whatever the time of year, the Park’s many varied habitats provide homes to a richly diverse flora and fauna. Now, under the ownership of Dacorum Borough Council and the stewardship of the Woodland Trust, it is a safe and secure wildlife haven waiting to be explored.