Ayot's most famous resident was George Bernard Shaw and his house,
which is now owned by the National Trust, is open to the public.
For full details see the
National Trust website. This also has full directions to the
area and a map. The best place to park (if it is open) is the NT
car park which is where the co-ordinates give above point to.
However you will need to visit the gardens/house (which costs). The
alternative is to find somewhere on the roadside in the village to
park, there are no yellow lines! To find the village just follow
the many signs to Shaw's Corner (NT).
Your walk will take you round the village and the grounds of the
large manor house, Ayot House. It is all on well maintained
footpaths and although it should be OK for baby buggies ther are
several gates and a stile or two to negotiate. Once you have
finished your trek the nearby Brocket Arms is a good watering
hole.
You will gather digits as you walk round the area. These will
give you the final co-ordinates in the form
N 51 AB.CDE, W 000 FG.HJK The total walk should
take around half an hour at most.
The cache is a 2.3l tupperware box and originally contained
items more suited to adults than children. Nothing "unpleasant" you
understand, just more likely to appeal to grown ups. I would expect
this to change as swaps get added.
OK, starting at the suggested co-ordinates:
Waypoint 1 at N 51° 50.165 W 000°
16.172
You will be at the NT car park at Shaw's corner. He lived in the
house from 1906 - 19A0:
Unfortunately the noticeboard is reported as missing. It should
be possible to work out what this digit should be. If you can't,
check out the encrypted clue below.
Leaving the car park, turn left into the lane and follow it
(past two large white houses on your left) until you come to a
track on the right hand side signposted to St Lawrence Church. On
your up the track way look out for:
Waypoint 2 at N 51° 50.260 W 000°
16.327
A telegraph pole with the number E3C on it. Continue to
Waypoint 3 at N 51° 50.277 W 000°
16.285
The church and the indicated waypoint. Look above the main door
and you will see a latin inscription with a date on it. The only
problem is that the date is in roman numerals! Convert it to a
normal date: F77J OK on to:
N 51° 50.299 W 000° 16.302
A very short walk will take you to a gate dedicated to Fen
Harding. The dates on the gate are 1893 - 197D. As you walk through the gate bear right and head
back to the village green at:
N 51° 50.242 W 000° 16.038
You should be facing the old church. A gate leading to the
church was presented by Mr & Mrs Winston in
19C9. If you want to visit
the old church and the gate is locked you can get the key from the
pub just up the road.
OK, walk up the road (past the pub) to:
Waypoint 6 at N 51° 50.259 W 000°
15.917
This takes you to a small yellow sign with a big "H" and three
sets of numbers on it. The numbers (from top to bottom) are:
97K9
1BB
G
If you are facing the sign there is a track to your back. Take
this to
Waypoint 7 at N 51° 50.557 W 000°
16.025
At the far end of the track you will see an electricity pole.
There are H output terminals
on the transformer at the top of the pole
You now have all the numbers you require to find the cache. Bear
left following the footpath sign (DON'T go through the gate) and
continue along the field edge until you get to a stile. Climb over
the stile and follow your GPS to the cache. This is a very popular
spot for walkers so I have chosen somewhere which should be
reasonably secluded
Once you have found it make your way back to this stile then
follow the path across the field towards the church/water tower you
can see behind the trees. You are now very close to your starting
point.
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