Attractions and Places To See around Ashley (E Cambs) - Top 20

official starting point Stour Valley Path

Lovely clock tower with stained glass windows

Impressive, vast estate. From the entrance, you'll notice that this is something special—an amazing building and surrounding gardens, with gift shop and cafes which close at 4 pm. Around the estate, you'll have kilometre after kilometre of woods with every turn displaying a different scenery. You'll have ups and downs of roads very good for hiking and a sweaty cardio. Before you enter, though, please be aware that non-members will pay a reduced entrance fee of 10 quid per person after 3.30 pm. I have no idea what the full rate is.

The Round House features a unique facade and a captivating history. It began as a shooting lodge before undergoing a transformation into a gamekeeper's cottage. Surrounded by the melody of bird calls and the beauty of nature, this cottage creates a truly picturesque scene. Today, it serves as a holiday cottage available for online booking.

Here, you'll have the opportunity to admire this incredible Italianate Georgian palace, an astonishing building that is further enhanced by its idyllic location and gardens. The magnificent Rotunda was commissioned by the fourth Earl of Bristol to house all the treasures he collected during his travels across Europe in the 18th century.

Note: the highest *pint* not the highest *point*. To find the missing “o” go to www.komoot.com/highlight/1530035

Ickworth House is a country house at Ickworth, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. It is a neoclassical building set in parkland. The house was the residence of the Marquess of Bristol before being sold to the National Trust in 1998. The house, built between 1795 and 1829, was formerly the chief dwelling of an estate owned by the Hervey family, later Marquesses of Bristol, since 1467. The building was the creation of Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (known as the Earl-Bishop), who commissioned the Italian architect Antonio Asprucci to design him a classical villa in the Suffolk countryside. Originally it had been planned as an art gallery but the Earl's collection was seized by Napoleon. The Earl died in 1803, leaving the completion of house to his successor. In 1956, the house, park, and a large endowment were given to the National Trust in lieu of death duties. As part of the handover agreement, a 99-year lease on the 60-room East Wing was given to the Marquess of Bristol. However, in 1998 the 7th Marquess of Bristol sold the remaining lease on the East Wing to the National Trust. He was succeeded by his half-brother Frederick William Augustus Hervey, 8th Marquess of Bristol (born 19 October 1979). The National Trust refused to sell the remaining lease term back to the 8th Marquess, thereby contravening the Letter of Wishes which states that the head of the family should always be offered whatever accommodation he chooses at Ickworth. The family's once private East Wing is now run as The Ickworth Hotel on a lease from the National Trust. Apartments, also leased from the Trust, are located in the Dower House in the grounds. The West Wing at Ickworth House went uncompleted until 2006, when a joint partnership between the National Trust and Sodexo Prestige led to its renovation and opening as a centre for conferences and events. The first wedding in the property's history took place in 2006. As one of England's more unusual houses, Ickworth has been unflatteringly described as resembling "a huge bulk, newly arrived from another planet" and as "an overgrown folly". It is now being architecturally reassessed and recognised as the only building in England comparable with the monumental works of Boullée and Ledoux. The design concept was based on the designs of Italian architect Antonio Asprucci, most noted for his work at the Villa Borghese, which the Bishop-Earl had seen. Asprucci's plans were adapted and the building work overseen by English architects Francis Sandys and his brother Joseph Sandys. The façades are of brick covered in stucco; beneath a roof of slate and lead. The central rotunda is 105 ft. high with a domed and balustraded roof. the building is entered through the central entrance ionic pedimented portico. The rotunda is decorated with pilasters, which on the lower floor are Ionic and Corinthian above. The ground and first floor and the third floor and the balustraded parapet are divided friezes bas-relief. The rotunda is flanked by segmental single story narrow wings (appearing as a blind arcade) linking, in the palladian fashion, to two terminating pavilions; these segmental wings are broken at their centre by projecting bays which house the Smoking Room and the Pompeian Room, both later 19th century additions. Unlike the design of a true Palladian building, the terminating pavilions, rather than minor balancing appendages, are in fact large wings, complementary in weight to the rotunda which becomes their corps de logis. The East Wing, a small mansion in itself, was designed to be the everyday living quarters of the family (which it remained until 1998), thus permitting the more formal rooms of the rotunda to be reserved for entertaining and display. The west wing, intended as an orangery, sculpture gallery and service rooms remained an unfinished shell until the beginning of the 21st century. For much of the time it was used as agricultural storage and latterly for playing squash on a court installed by the 4th Marquess.

The monument to the 4th Earl of Bristol. From the terrace in the Italianate Gardens, look out for a glimpse of a tall monument peeking above the trees. Situated in a pasture field on the far side of the Estate, you can reach it by taking a long walk across open land and through Lownde Wood. The monument was erected in 1817 by the grateful people of Derry to the memory of the 4th Earl of Bristol, Frederick Hervey who was also the Bishop of Derry. It was built by the masons John and Robert de Carle and has inscriptions in both English and Latin on its east and west faces. On the west face, it describes the Earl Bishop’s work in encouraging a better understanding between the warring factions in Ireland. It's an unusual monument, as it was paid for by both the Protestant and Catholic communities in Derry.