Askett is a picturesque

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Princes Risborough Princes Risborough () is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England, about south of Aylesbury and north west of High Wycombe. It lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, at the north end of a gap or pass through the Chilterns, the south end ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England. It is situated where the steep escarpment of the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshire. ...

meets the flat expanse of the Vale of

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

. It lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

less than four miles from

Chequers Chequers ( ), or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Bucking ...

, country home of the UK Prime Minister. One mile from the market town of Princes Risborough, Askett is served with The Three Crowns pub and an Indian restaurant, The Coco Tamarind. The nearby Monks Risborough railway station provides direct access to

London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone an ...

History

The Manor house at Askett sat on the site of Old Manor Close estate. At the beginning of the 20th century small cottages resided on the original land but by 1969 had been demolished and in 1983 five new houses were built. Opposite the entrance to the estate stood the wheelwrights shop where a modern bungalow now stands. In the 19th Century, the small hamlet was a renowned village for lacemaking. By the 20th Century, villages like Askett and Kimble became the stopping point on the way to

, Dillons Garage was a small well-known service station opened in Askett in 1933 which has since been demolished. The village still holds many old fashioned cottages and bungalows. The area has more recently been described as 'A Hamlet in a Meadow'.

References

Hamlets in Buckinghamshire {{Buckinghamshire-geo-stub