Ashford
Administration
District:	Spelthorne
County:	Surrey
Region:	South East England
Nation:	England
Other
Ceremonial County:	Surrey
Traditional County:	Middlesex
Postal County:	Middlesex

Ashford is a stable, suburban dormitory town in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne near to Greater London. It is in an area of mostly green belt land, rivers, flood plain and reservoirs.

Ashford is part of the borough of Spelthorne, a suburb in South East England which has a population of 90,000 people and covers 30 square Kilometres. It is near Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell and Sunbury-on-Thames. It is also close to Heathrow Airport, but it does not suffer from aircraft noise. Although one is more likely to have heard of Staines than Ashford, more people live in Ashford than in Staines.

Ashford has traditionally had very low unemployment. A great deal of local employment is directly related to Heathrow Airport. BP International is another major employer. Many other Ashfordians work in the City of London or in the Thames Valley.

Mentioned in the Domesday Book of AD 1086, Ashford was most likely founded in Saxon times. However, its housing stock is chiefly a mixture of bungalows and semi-detached houses built between 1930 and 1960.

Ashford is in the traditional county of Middlesex, but was moved to the administrative county of Surrey in 1974. Many Ashfordians therefore call it "Ashford, Middlesex", as does the Post Office.

Famous people from Ashford:

Norman Willis, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) 1984–92 and president of the European TUC 1991–93.

Sarah Ayton, Olympic gold medal winner in the Yngling sailing class 2004 Summer Olympics

Sarah Webb, Olympic gold medal winner in the Yngling sailing class 2004 Summer Olympics

(They won Britain's first gold medal of the Athens Games)

Bobby Davro, 1990s TV impressionist

Russell Grant (astrologer and resident of Staines) became Lord of Ashford in 1996.