Aston Hill Closed

rob cole

I've read on some of the more DH orientated forums that legendary south-east DH site "Aston Hills" (Wendover, Herts) has now closed due a break down in relationship between the Forestry Commission and Buckingham Bikes (who took over from Ian Warby who founded and ran the site for years)

my friends went there recently on a Saturday and were surprised that no one was on the gate taking money, and the tracks were in poor condition...so I guess its not surprising the FC pulled the plug

anyone know more???

Sir HC

From Southerndownhill
All,

Astonhill is going to be closed for a short period (currently how long is not known) while a change in management from Bucks Bikes to the New club is given the ok by the forestry. This is a delicate time, as the crossover period means that the forestry are solely incharge of the Hill, and anything done to upset them may delay an agreement between the club and themselves being signed. What this means is that unfortunately we need people to stay away until we can officially re-open the hill under the new club.

So this means, please do not park on the grass or by the golf club and continue to use the hill anyway as this may have an adverse effect toward any agreement being signed.

I can assure you we will be doing our best to resolve this situation as quickly as possible, so you can all get back to riding as normal. And for the record, until Sunday afternoon, none of us had any idea the hill was going to be closed.

This is effective as of today, 4th December

Just as a little background:

The club has not yet been formalised or given the go ahead by the forestry, and as of a few weeks ago Buckingham bikes withdrew completely from Astonhill and Wendover Woods, hence this situation has arisen. For this reason, it is of real importance that nothing is done to upset the forestry, as we now rely solely on them to let us re open the hill.

Thank you in advance for your patience with this matter.

Also note:

Just to clear up any cofusion over Buckingham Bikes. We never officially signed over anything to do with Aston Hill, in the whole time we were running the place. We chased the FC over and over again with no replys as im sure anybody whos tried contacting them will know. We had to wait until an official lease was put in place and as result we could not commit to a huge amount.

Mark_K

Lets hope this gets sorted out sooner rather than later

tldorange224

Some how I don't think it would be that hard to get hold of the forestry commission as I managed to phone them and speak to them the same day I found out the hill had been shut. Also from being a regular rider at aston hill when Ian ran the site you could see when Buckingham Bikes took over that they're interest was not as high and maybe they need to think that this is why the forestry commission weren't impressed with the running of the site and therefore maybe hesitant in producing a formal lease for them. Hope it gets re opened under a interested dedicated new team!!!!

Mark_K

Rode past again to day (as i do most weekends) and its still shut any news on when or who maybe taking over aston hill ???

tldorange224

Spoke to the Forestry Commission this morning and was told CTC will be running the hill and it should be re opened in April. So good news.

steelo

It would be good to have it opened in time for the Demo Day that's happeneing there (I hope, as i've booked in for a Yeti and a Felt!)

Anonymous

It's being opened especially for the Demo Day

More here: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/a ... ened-14462