I grew up in the city of St. Albans in Hertfordshire. Whenever I go back to the UK to visit my family I tend to hang around the same old places, drinking tea like it’s going out of fashion and eating all the M&S food. During my most recent stay in St. Albans however, I went on 3 great day trips around the area which were completely new to me and worthwhile sharing.
Firstly, where is Hertfordshire? Herts is one of southern England’s “home counties”, meaning that it’s feasible to live there and commute to the capital every day. This county borders Greater London to the north, with regular rail services to and from central London. That being said, to get to any of the places I talk about in this post it’s probably easiest to drive.
HEARTWOOD FOREST
Heartwood is the largest new native forest in England. More than half a million young trees, link areas of ancient woodland with stunning wildflower meadows. Before the Woodland Trust revealed their plans for the new forest in 2008, a majority of the land was used for agriculture. By March 2018 the site was finished, with volunteers having planted 600,000 trees over 10 years.
Mum, Dad and I took the dog for a walk along one of Heartwood’s marked trails. There’s also a number of bridleways for horse riders and cyclists. I’d love to go back and visit in the springtime when the woodland floor is carpeted with bluebells, that’s always so magical. To make this a full day trip, you could walk/cycle there from either St. Albans or Sandridge village. Otherwise, Heartwood Forest’s car park is situated just off the B651.
THE POP UP FARM
As the name suggests, The Pop Up Farm welcomes visitors to a series of pop up farming events each year. The working farm is both family-run and family-friendly. The weekend that I arrived in the UK my sister Roxy, bother-in-law Carl and their 2 cute kiddos came to stay at Mum and Dad’s. That Sunday happened to be the last day in 2019 for both the ‘Sunflower Festival’ and the ‘Sweetcorn Celebration’.
Because it was the final day for these 2 events, we only paid GBP10 per car for as many sunflowers as we could carry plus 4 sweetcorn cobs. I reckon this was excellent value as we all had such a brilliant time! My niece Molly and nephew Rory especially enjoyed running around in the hay bale maze. As you walk through the fields there are sunflower facts and a sunflower quiz to do as well.
Sunflowers and sweetcorn are usually available July-September. October is pumpkin picking time which also looks really fun. You can find The Pop Up Farm just off the roundabout at Junction 9 of the M1 (near Harpenden). Keep an eye on the farm’s social media accounts for opening days and times, occasionally they’re closed after heavy rain.
TEWIN BADGER HIDE
This one’s for my fellow animal lovers. Tewin Orchard Nature Reserve grows local varieties of apples and pears and is home to an abundance of wildlife. Within the orchard lies a mammal hide facing a sprawling badger sett. I managed to book the hide on a Wednesday evening for 8 adults (it accommodates up to 12).
I’ve never seen badgers in the wild before as they’re pretty shy creatures and mostly nocturnal. When I found out about this opportunity I just couldn’t resist, it was definitely a highlight of the holiday! We counted 19 individual badgers feeding at one time and were super close to the action. As well as the badgers our group spotted 3 foxes and a deer – bonus 🙂
Tewin village is off the B1000 when driving from Welwyn Garden City towards Hertford. The cost of the hide is a GBP10 (per person) donation to Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust. If you’re interested in booking the hide, check Tewin’s website for March-October availability.
Read more posts from this UK trip:
Northumberland – Touring the Castles + Coast
London – Scenic Walks, Vintage Shopping + Natural History
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Seeing badgers in the wild is a real treat, I am very jealous. And not just one, there were 19! We did go badger watching one cold November evening in Lancashire and saw a snout of one badger! Still it was a wonderful (if chilly) evening.
I was so surprised at the number of badgers that we saw, I’m not sure if this was lucky or a regular occurrence – either way, I’m grateful to them. Hopefully, you’ll have better luck next time Carol 🙂
Looks like your niece and nephew thoroughly enjoyed the trip to pop-up farm. The sunflowers look amazing. It’s so nice to read about these sunny days in gloomy quarantine times like these.
I’m just happy that I made the decision to visit my family in the UK in the second half of last year, before the pandemic became an issue. Hoping we all get back to normal sooner rather than later 🙂
Oh ! I can totally understand the joy of visiting the family and hanging around the old places doing the same thing. It is so much enjoyable. Your nephew and niece look so happy inside the sunflower farm. The places around your home are so beautiful. The sunflower farms and the pumpkin patch are something that I could always go back to. I wish we had something like that near my house!
Thanks for reading Amrita! I look forward to being able to go back and see my family again and maybe revisit some of these places.
Those sunflowers are gorgeous I would love to pick some and take them home! Corn mazes are a yearly tradition my family enjoys as well. I loved seeing pictures of your pup! I take my Corgi and Rottweiler with me whenever I can.
Wow a Corgi and a Rottweiler, those are 2 gorgeous breeds. I actually met a lovely rottweiler yesterday, he was such a friendly little (maybe not so little) guy!
This looks so gorgeous! I love sunflowers! (In fact, I live in the Sunflower State!) And I’ve never seen a badger in real life. That would be cool!
I just googled the sunflower state – Kansas! Well, I learnt something new today. Thanks Sage 🙂
I’ve never seen a badger before. That would be so cool! I would love the pop up farm too. The sunflowers are gorgeous and I LOVE corn mazes. I took my kids to farms like this and now take my grandkids, and I still love them lol.
Seeing badgers was a really cool experience. I think you have them in Canada right? Maybe not where you live and they look a little different to the European version 🙂 Though you guys have bears which are even more awesome! Farm visits make for lovely days out, I’d do it again.