Address: Ashridge House, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1NS, United Kingdom

 

Check In: From 3.00pm     Check Out: By 9.00am

 

Please report to reception for check in. 

 

Directions: 

 

By Car:  HP4 1NS - Postcode for Sat Nav

 

From M25: Exit from M25 at junction 20 and join the A41 towards Aylesbury. Take the exit signposted ‘Bourne End, Berkhamsted, Boxmoor’ and follow directions to Berkhamsted town centre. Continue as Berkhamsted route above.

 

From London: Leave M1 at junction 6, signposted ‘St. Albans 405 (M25)’ and then follow the signs to join the M25 at junction 21A saying ‘Heathrow (M40, M4, M3)’.

Continue as for the M25 route above.

 

From the North: Leave M1 at junction 11 and follow A505 to Dunstable. Keep going straight and cross A5. Carry straight on over the next roundabout onto B489 towards Aston Clinton. Turn left onto B4506 towards Dagnall (Dagnall Road) at the next roundabout (there is a pub/restaurant on the right-hand side). Cross A4146 towards Berkhamsted and turn left for Little Gaddesden at the top of the hill. Turn right 100 metres past Bridgewater Arms (pub on left-hand side) into Ashridge. Ashridge is on your left (the entrance is just after the toll gate - No fee required. 

 

By Train: Berkhamsted station is only 3 miles away and has fantastic links into London and the north of the country. There is a taxi rank which you can use to get up to Ashridge, or please call us in advance to book a place on our complimentary shuttle service (please be aware this does not run at all times)

By Air: London Luton: 20 minute drive.  London Heathrow: 1 hour drive. London Stansted: 1 hour 15 minutes drive. London Gatwick: 1 hour 30 minutes drive

 

By Coach: If you are travelling by coach, please come through Berkhamsted or Potten End. Do not attempt to come from Northchurch or through Little Gaddesden as the trees are too low.

Berkhamsted is a medium-sized historic market town on the western edge of Hertfordshire, England. The affluent commuter town is located in the small Bulbourne valley in the Chiltern Hills, 26 miles northwest of London.

 

People have been living in the area for over 5,000 years. There is evidence of flint working in the Neolithic period and metal working in the late Iron Age and Roman periods. The high street is on a pre-Roman route known by its Saxon name Akeman Street. The earliest written reference to Berkhamsted is in 970AD. Berkhamsted was recorded as a 'burbium' (an ancient borough) in the Domesday Book in 1086. The oldest known extant jettied timber-framed building in Great Britain, built 1277 - 1297, survives as a shop on the town's high street. In the 13th and 14th century the town was a wool trading town, with thriving local market.

 

The most important event in the town's history was in December 1066. After William the Conqueror defeated King Harold's Anglo-Saxon army at the Battle of Hastings, the Anglo-Saxon leadership surrendered to the Norman encampment at Berkhamsted. The event was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. From 1066 to 1495, Berkhamsted Castle was a favoured residence held by many English royals, including Henry II and Edward, the Black Prince; and historical figures such as Thomas Becket and Geoffrey Chaucer. After the castle was abandoned in 1495 the town went into decline, losing its borough status in the second half of the 17th century. Modern Berkhamsted began to expand following the construction of the canal and the railway in the 19th century.

 

Among those born in Berkhamsted was Colonel Daniel Axtell, who was the captain of the Parliamentary Guard at the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649. The towns literary connections include the 17th century hymnist and poet, William Cowper, the 18th century writer Maria Edgeworth, and the 20th century novelist Graham Greene. The town is the location of Berkhamsted School, a co-educational boarding independent school, founded in 1541 by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral; and Ashlyns School a state school whose history began as the Foundling Hospital established in London by Thomas Coram, in 1742. The town is home to the Rex Cinema (a highly regarded independent cinema) and the British Film Institute's BFI National Archive at King's Hill, one of the largest film and television archives in the world, which was endowed by J. Paul Getty, Jr.