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Station Road, TRING, HP23 5QY

Station Road was built specifically to connect Tring with its new station in the late 1830s at the expense of the townspeople. It still runs through open country today. To the right is the turn for Pendley Manor Hotel, shortened to Pendley Hotel on the sign.

Tring railway station lies a mile or two to the east of the town. As its name suggests, Station Road links the town to the station. The footpath is a shared use path, for cyclists as well as pedestrians. At this location there is a bus stop on each side of the road.

The Court Theatre at Pendley near Tring has an interesting history, being an indoor riding school prior to becoming a theatre. At one time it was owned by the Williams family who also owned the adjacent Image] where they lived. The last member of the family to live at Pendley was Dorian Williams (1914-1985), the well-known BBC equestrian commentator, who had this building converted into a theatre. The Court Theatre is now a very active venue for plays, musicals, live bands and many other activities. See their website here http://www.courttheatre.co.uk Note: Almost all of the theatre building is actually in the adjacent (to the south) gridsquare, but the northern façade seen here and the car park in front of it are just in this gridsquare.

I think this image shows the gills and ring particularly clearly. This fungus is apparently edible - but is so slimy that it doesn't look very appetising, so I left it where it was ! See also Image] Image] Image]

The reason for the common name - Porcelain Fungus - for this fungus is perhaps obvious from this image. It is also known as Slimy Beech Tuft - which is also appropriate. (see Image] Image] Image])

A good clump or "tuft" of Oudemansiella mucida aka Slimy Beech Tuft aka Porcelain Fungus on a beech tree at Pendley near Tring. (see also Image] Image] Image])

Oudemansiella mucida is also known as Slimy Beech Tuft. This was certainly living up to its name as it was decidedly viscid, was growing on a beech tree and as can be seen it was growing in tufts ! Another name for this fungus is The Porcelain Fungus - see some of the other images (Image] Image] Image]) to see why that is appropriate also.

This theatre at Pendley, on the outskirts of Tring, was formerly owned by the equestrian commentator Dorian Williams, whose family owned the entire Pendley estate. It was originally an indoor riding school, but was converted into a theatre in 1978. See also Image] and the theatre's website here http://www.courttheatre.co.uk It is a very popular venue which is busy for most weeks of the year with a huge variety of theatrical shows, musical events and stand-up comedians, far more than would be expected from a town of Tring's size.

This large fungus was growing on a fallen tree in a small wood beside The Court Theatre at Pendley, Tring. The striations which can be seen underneath the fungus at first sight look like gills, but in fact they were ridges, as this fungus had pores. It is one of the polypore fungi that grow as brackets on both living and dead trees. I at first thought that this may be Polyporus squamosus, common name "Dryad's Saddle", but it does not seem shaggy enough.