Nigel Ashcroft was born in Heemsteede, Holland in 1951, and lived in Sweden and the Republic of Ireland before coming to England in 1965.   He attended Berkhampstead School, Hertfordshire and studied briefly at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design at Cheltenham (1969) but he was largely self-taught.

Nigel Ashcroft started exhibiting his work in 1970, mainly in the West Country.   In 1977 he was a founding Director of the Rooksmoor Gallery, Stroud (now established in Bath) but returned to full time painting in 1983, since when he has exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad.

From 1986 to 2001 Nigel Ashcroft lived for part of each year in the Dordogne region of France, and in 2003 he moved to France permanently.   He now lives in the Tarn (south west France) with his wife, the painter Ann Gilmartin.

Since 1971 Nigel Ashcroft has held numerous solo exhibitions, including Frost and Reed in London (annually from 1992 to 2007), and Frost and Reed New York (2003).       Group exhibitions include the Royal Academy and the Royal Watercolour Society.