Near Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire – 4/10

Though it is certainly always nice (and depressingly rare) to see a stile feature a double-step design, it is not so nice when the wood used for those said steps look like they would collapse under the weight of a leaf! No wonder there is clear signs of a path around the stile where people would rather risk it negotiating those loose twigs than navigating the stile. It is always a sad sight to see that a stile has become a redundant shadow as people prefer to just create their own path around it – but with steps that are in such a sorry state, who can blame anyone!

The steps aside, the overall design of the stile is not too bad, if a little unorthodox! One of the vertical poles starts at the bottom bar instead of the actual ground, and though this does add some stability, surely considering its total length, this design decision is a more than little baffling! While there may be positives to be found here, the strange design and borderline-scary steps have to lead to a generous portion of marks being lost.