A Weekend in Hertfordshire — What to Do, Where to Stay

Hertfordshire doesn't shout about itself. That's partly why it's so good. Wedged between the M25 and the Chiltern Hills, it's the county that London commuters pass through without stopping — and what they're missing is quite something.

Within 20 minutes of Kings Cross / St Pancras you can be walking past Roman walls, ducking into a Victorian Gothic mansion, or exploring a market town that's barely changed since the 1600s. The county has two distinct characters: the cathedral city of St Albans in the south, steeped in two thousand years of history, and the greener, quieter north — Knebworth, Hitchin, Letchworth — where the landscape opens up and the pace slows down considerably.

Here's how to make the most of a weekend across both.

Morning: Start where Britain's history starts

St Albans is one of the oldest inhabited places in Britain. The Romans knew it as Verulamium, and it was one of the largest cities in Roman Britain — a proper urban centre with a forum, temples, a theatre, and some of the finest town houses north of Rome. Start your morning with a walk through Verulamium Park, where stretches of the original Roman city wall still stand to head height. It's a genuinely remarkable thing to see casually tucked beside a duck pond.

Verulamium Park — over 100 acres of open parkland in the heart of St Albans. © Geograph / CC BY-SA

The park is far more than a history lesson — it's a genuinely brilliant day out in its own right. There's a children's play area, cricket pitches, football nets and grass pitches, and the River Ver runs through the southern edge with lovely bankside walks alongside it. In summer, the park fills up with picnicking families and you'll find ice cream vans parked near the lake. It's the kind of place where you can easily spend a couple of hours without going near the Roman walls at all — though you really should.

Inside the park, the Verulamium Museum is worth an hour of your time. The mosaic floors and painted plaster on display are extraordinary — some of the best-preserved Roman domestic interiors found anywhere in the country. Entry is very reasonable.

Mid-morning: The Roman Theatre

The Roman Theatre of Verulamium — one of only a handful of Roman theatres excavated in Britain. © Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

A short walk from the park is the Roman Theatre of Verulamium — one of only a handful of Roman theatres ever excavated in Britain, and unique in that it preserves the stage structure rather than just the seating bank. It's an open-air site, which makes it feel all the more atmospheric. Standing where a Roman audience once stood, looking out at a stage that's nearly 2,000 years old, is a quietly astonishing experience.

Afternoon: The city centre and cathedral

St Albans Cathedral — one of the longest naves in England, on a site of Christian worship since the 3rd century. © Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

St Albans' city centre is built on a ridge above Verulamium, and the Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban dominates it utterly. This is the site where Alban — Britain's first Christian martyr — was executed in the third century, and there has been a church here ever since. The current building dates largely from the 11th century, with a nave stretching over 85 metres. It's free to visit and genuinely stunning.

The streets around the cathedral are worth wandering. The Maltings shopping area sits along the River Ver, and the market runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays with local produce, street food, and independent traders. The high street has a good mix of independent shops alongside the chains.

Evening: Dinner and The Odyssey

St Albans has a strong food scene for a city of its size. Here are a few worth knowing about:

• Japes — a popular local favourite, great for a relaxed dinner out.
• Sushi Mania — solid Japanese; good value and consistently busy for a reason.
• Per Tutti — Italian done properly. A St Albans institution.
• Tikka Nation — excellent Indian food; well worth a visit if you're in the mood for a curry.

Round off the evening at The Odyssey Cinema, St Albans' much-loved independent. It shows a thoughtful mix of mainstream releases and more interesting fare — the kind of programming you won't get at a multiplex — and the atmosphere is altogether more civilised than a chain. Check what's on before you go; it books up at weekends.

Morning: Knebworth House

Knebworth House — a Victorian Gothic mansion that has been home to the same family since 1490. © Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA

Head north into the quieter, more rural part of Hertfordshire. Knebworth House is the place to start — a Victorian Gothic mansion of spectacular extravagance, all turrets and gargoyles and carved stonework, set within 250 acres of parkland. The house has been home to the Lytton family since 1490, though the current Gothic exterior was added in the 19th century by the novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton (who gave the world the phrase "it was a dark and stormy night").

The house itself is open for tours, and the state rooms are genuinely impressive — full of portraits, original furniture, and the kind of lived-in grandeur you rarely see. The grounds include a formal garden designed by Edwin Lutyens, a walled kitchen garden, and a country park with deer roaming freely.

Lunch: Hitchin

Drive fifteen minutes north to Hitchin, which might be the nicest market town in Hertfordshire that nobody from London has heard of. The medieval market square is still in use — the market runs on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays — and the town has a good collection of independent cafés, delis, and restaurants. Hermitage Road in particular has become a bit of a food destination, with several well-regarded places clustered together.

Afternoon: Letchworth Garden City

A short drive from Hitchin is Letchworth Garden City — the world's first garden city, built from scratch in 1903 as a planned utopian community combining the best of town and country life. It's a fascinating place to walk around: wide tree-lined boulevards, Arts and Crafts architecture, the original Broadway Cinema (still operating), and the sense that someone, at some point, really thought carefully about how a town should work. The First Garden City Heritage Museum tells the full story.

Bonus stop: Welwyn Garden City

If you have a bit more time — or the energy for a third destination — Welwyn Garden City is absolutely worth a visit. It's the second garden city ever built, completed in the 1920s, and in many ways it's even more beautiful than Letchworth. The main boulevard, Parkway, is lined with mature trees and flanked by elegant neo-Georgian architecture — it genuinely feels like nowhere else in England. The town was designed by Louis de Soissons with a coherence and civic ambition that still impresses today.

Beyond the architecture, Welwyn Garden City has become something of a food destination in its own right. There are some excellent restaurants in the town centre, and the area hosts food festivals from time to time that draw visitors from across Hertfordshire. If you're there on a good day, the combination of beautiful surroundings and great food makes it a genuinely special stop.

It's only about 10 minutes from St Albans by car, making it very easy to slot into a day one itinerary.

The Hertfordshire countryside

If you have time on either day, the countryside around Knebworth is worth exploring on foot. The lanes around the village are quiet and well-maintained, and the broader Hertfordshire countryside — rolling farmland punctuated by small woods and streams — is genuinely lovely walking country. The Hertfordshire Way long-distance footpath passes through the area if you want a structured route.