Best Places to Visit in Hertfordshire
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit in Hertfordshire are Cromer Windmill, Old Gorhambury House, Panshanger Park, Roman Wall of St Albans, Watercress Wildlife Association, Welwyn Roman Baths, Cheslyn House & Gardens and London Gate.
Hertfordshire keeps its finest ground in Roman remains, old houses and quiet parks a short way north of London. St Albans, the Roman Verulamium, holds much of it: a long stretch of the town wall, the excavated London Gate on Watling Street, and the reclaimed watercress beds of a nature reserve on the city's edge, while a Roman bath house survives sealed beneath the motorway at Welwyn nearby.
Great houses tell their own story, from the Elizabethan ruin of Old Gorhambury, once home to Francis Bacon, to the ornamental gardens of Cheslyn House in Watford. For the outdoors, Panshanger Park spreads its Capability Brown landscape and ancient oak along the Mimram, and the last post mill in the county turns to the wind at Cromer near Ardeley.
Some are ancient and staffed, others quiet local corners. Here are eight places to visit across Hertfordshire.
Cromer Windmill
Photo: John M via Geograph.org.uk
Cromer Windmill The entire timber body of this mill swings round on a single central post to bring its four sails square to the wind, balanced above a low, squat roundhouse. It is a post mill, the last of its kind anywhere in Hertfordshire, standing on a small mound in open country a few miles east of Stevenage near the village of Ardeley.
Years of patient work by volunteers brought it back from decay, and they throw the doors open to visitors through the summer. Time your visit for one of those warmer-month opening days to see a working relic of the county's rural past up close.
Old Gorhambury House
Photo: Des Blenkinsopp via Geograph.org.uk
Old Gorhambury House is the ruin of a grand Elizabethan mansion in parkland west of St Albans, one of the early great houses of its kind. It was built between 1563 and 1568 by Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper to Elizabeth I, partly from stone salvaged from the dissolved St Albans Abbey, and his son, the philosopher Francis Bacon, later lived here.
When a newer house was built nearby in the 1770s the old one was left to decay. What survives, cared for by English Heritage, is chiefly a two-storey classical porch and the base of a clock tower, standing on the private Gorhambury estate.
Panshanger Park
Photo: Julian Paren via Geograph.org.uk
Panshanger Park is a country park of around a thousand acres in the Mimram valley between Hertford and Welwyn Garden City, opened to the public in 2014 on land owned by a quarrying company and managed for wildlife by the local wildlife trust. Its landscape was shaped in part by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton, though the great house that stood at its heart was demolished in the 1950s.
Trails run through woodland, grassland and wetland along a chalk stream and past old lakes, one of them a dragonfly trail. Its best-known feature is the Panshanger Oak, a huge ancient oak, one of the finest maiden oaks in the country, protected behind iron railings.
Roman Wall of St Albans
Photo: Nigel Cox via Geograph.org.uk
Roman Wall of St Albans Flint and tile laid down in the AD 260s still stand shoulder-high through Verulamium Park, the surviving line of the wall that once ringed Roman Verulamium. In its day the circuit ran a full two miles and rose to around five metres; where it endures it reaches roughly four, joined by the stubs of towers and a town gate half-buried in the grass.
All of it is free to walk up to, an English Heritage site open in the park on the edge of St Albans. With the Roman museum, the lake and the old theatre close by, it slots easily into an afternoon spent among the layers of the Roman town.
Watercress Wildlife Association
Photo: Peter Constable via Geograph.org.uk
The Watercress Wildlife Site is a small nature reserve on the site of former commercial watercress beds, tucked behind Riverside Road on the southeastern edge of St Albans. Large ponds left from the old cress beds, along with wetland and the River Ver, make up the ground, and there is a well-used bird-feeding area where kingfishers and herons are seen.
A local charity of volunteers runs it, and it is free to walk, reached on foot or by bike from the Alban Way rather than by car. It closes on Wednesdays and the last Sunday morning of each month for maintenance.
Welwyn Roman Baths
Photo: Mr Ignavy via Geograph.org.uk
Welwyn Roman Baths Sealed inside a steel vault directly beneath junction 6 of the A1(M) near Welwyn, this is the surviving bath house of a Roman villa, reached down a pedestrian tunnel with traffic rumbling somewhere overhead. In the chamber below you can pick out the underfloor heating and the floors of the warm, hot and cold rooms, the cold plunge bath among them.
A local archaeologist uncovered the remains in 1960, and rather than being lost they were preserved when the motorway was driven across the site. The Welwyn Hatfield Museum Service looks after it now.
Standing among Roman brickwork under a motorway is an odd and memorable thrill.
Cheslyn House & Gardens
Photo: David Marsden via Geograph.org.uk
Cheslyn House and Gardens is a small ornamental garden of about three and a half acres in Watford, free to walk around. It holds an aviary of small birds, a patch of semi-natural woodland, a wildlife pond and a rock garden, with borders of unusual and exotic plants.
The planting reflects the travels of the original owners, mixing wisteria, palms and dahlias. The borough council runs it, and it hosts changing art displays indoors.
London Gate
Photo: Philip Halling via Geograph.org.uk
London Gate The name comes from Watling Street, the Roman road that once ran through here on its way to London, and low stone foundations are all that mark the spot now. This was the main south-eastern gateway of Verulamium, the Roman town on the western edge of St Albans in Hertfordshire, and stretches of city wall dating from around AD 270 still survive close by.
The gate lies in Verulamium Park, which is open and free to wander, with a lake, the covered Hypocaust mosaic and the Verulamium Museum all within an easy walk. It is a quiet, evocative place to begin piecing together Roman St Albans.
FAQs
Where can you see Roman remains in Hertfordshire?
St Albans, the Roman Verulamium, has a long stretch of the town wall and the excavated London Gate on Watling Street in Verulamium Park, close to the Roman museum, along with the covered Hypocaust mosaic. Nearby at Welwyn, a Roman bath house survives sealed in a vault beneath the A1(M), reached down a pedestrian tunnel.
Which places in Hertfordshire are free to visit?
Several places in Hertfordshire are free to visit. The Roman Wall and London Gate in Verulamium Park, the Watercress Wildlife Site on the edge of St Albans, and Cheslyn House and Gardens in Watford are all free, as is Panshanger Park along the Mimram. Cromer Windmill and the Welwyn Roman Baths open on set days, usually with a small charge.
Is Panshanger Park good for a walk and wildlife?
Yes, Panshanger Park is the best place in Hertfordshire for a walk and wildlife, spreading a thousand acres of woodland, grassland and wetland along the Mimram, with trails past old lakes, a dragonfly trail and the ancient Panshanger Oak. The Watercress Wildlife Site on the edge of St Albans is a small reserve of ponds and wetland where kingfishers and herons are seen.
Conclusion
Hertfordshire gathers its best places in Roman remains, old houses and quiet parks near London. St Albans, the Roman Verulamium, keeps its long town wall, the excavated London Gate on Watling Street and the reclaimed watercress beds of its nature reserve, with a Roman bath house sealed beneath the motorway at nearby Welwyn.
Great houses run from the Elizabethan ruin of Old Gorhambury, once home to Francis Bacon, to the ornamental gardens of Cheslyn House in Watford. For the outdoors, Panshanger Park spreads its Capability Brown landscape and ancient oak along the Mimram, and the last post mill in the county turns to the wind at Cromer.
From Roman wall to turning windmill, these are the places to seek out across Hertfordshire.
