Ashwell, Hinxworth, and Caldecote

This walk was done with the Cambridge Rambling Club, taking in 3 villages off the beaten track on the border of Hertfordshire with Cambridgeshire.

Ashwell is 4 miles north-east of Baldock; it is a pretty town that I explore over the lunch break, with some of the sites being seen on the walk back.  It is well preserved, with many listed and other buildings of note (see captions on photographs); these include a the 16th-century town house (now a local museum) and the Maltings (now converted into flats).  Ashwell Bury, a large Victorian house, was remodelled by Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s; Lutyens also designed the Grade 2 listed Ashwell War Memorial, unveiled in 1922.  

The village is noted for Ashwell Springs, a site of Special Scientific Interest; the site consists of a series of freshwater springs, which form the start of the river Rhee, one of the main sources of the River Cam.
The Cam flows through the centre of Cambridge, then to Ely, where it joins the Great Ouse and eventually reaches the Wash 65 miles away.

We leave Ashwell via the Church and follow footpaths, including part of the 12th century Ridgeway, to Hinxworth; we stop at the Church of St Nicholas and pass the home of John W Mills, a British Sculptor.  We continue on to Caldecote; this tiny village consists of a cluster of cottages around the redundant Church of St. Mary Magdalene, which dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and is currently in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches charity.  From here, we walk back to Ashwell via Newnham Hill; it has been an enjoyable 7.1 mile walk (although the conditions were rather muddy).Read more