Art Holiday Travel and Vacation information for Hertfordshire

"Hertfordshire (or Herts), an inland Co. in SE. of England, bounded N. by Cambridgeshire, E. by Essex, S. by Middlesex, W. by Bucks, and NW. by Bedfordshire; greatest length, NE. and SW., 35 miles; greatest breadth, E. and W., 26 miles: 465,141 acres, population 203,069. In appearance the county is hilly, but interspersed with fine pasture lands, arable farms, and picturesque parks and woods. The Lea, the Colne, and the Ivel are the principal rivers; the Grand Junction Canal likewise passes through a part of the county. A large number of the inhabitants are employed in husbandry, and in addition to grain of choice quality, hay, vegetables, and numerous fruits and flowers are extensively cultivated, especially for the London market. The greater portion of the commerce of the county is supported by the trade in corn and malt. Manufactures are few; paper-making silk-weaving, and straw-plaiting being the principal industries. Railways penetrate to all parts of the county; no place is at a greater distance than 5 miles from a station. Geologically the greater part of Herts consists, of Lower, Middle, and Upper Chalk; in the S. is the London clay. The minerals are of no commercial importance. Herts. comprises 8 hundreds, 138 parishes, and parts of 3 others, and the municipal boroughs of Hertford and St Albans. It is almost entirely in the diocese of St Albans. For parliamentary purposes it is divided into 4 divisions, viz., Northern or Hitchin, Eastern or Hertford, Mid or St Albans, and Western or Watford, 1 member for each. It sent 3 members till 1885."

(Transcribed from Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887. -C.H.)

Not really a holiday area, but some good days out Hatfield House at Knebworth has all-round appeal for a day out. The Standalone Farm on the edge of Letchworth is also a good family outing, as is the friendly wildlife park at Broxbourne. The remarkable zoological museum at Tring intrigues most people - of any age. For older tastes, the Royal National Rose Society's garden just outside St Albans is a great summer spectacle, and the Henry Moore sculpture garden at Much Hadham may convert even sceptics. St Albans itself has other appealing points, including the well preserved remains of a Roman city. Though much of the county is intensively built up, it has quite a few attractive villages and good pockets of pleasant strolling country.

The South East has always been the gateway to England because it is here that the Channel is at its narrowest. Celts, Romans, Angles and Saxons all made it ashore, with the Normans in 1066 being Britain's last successful invaders, when they over-ran King Harold's army at the town of Battle near Hastings. The imposing Battle Abbey was built by the Normans to atone for the slaughter and is a popular tourist attraction. Because the South East was so vulnerable to invasion, a profusion of towers, castles and moated mansions were built to defend it. Leeds Castle, set in a lake surrounded by magnificent gardens near Maidstone, Dover Castle, Arundel Castle and Bodiam Castle near Hastings,are all well worth exploring.

The seaside resort of Hastings is home to the first castle built by the Normans and is also where the story of the Battle of Hastings is told in The 1066 Story. The castle is now nothing but ruins, set on a hilltop above a warren of caves, which for centuries have been used for smuggling. Now these caves house an exhibition on the town's colourful history of duty-dodging.

For a piece of living history, visit Rye to the east of Hastings. This charming 14th-century town is all cobbled streets and half timbered buildings - wonderfully English. Take a drink in the Mermaid Inn, which has been serving beers and food for 800 years and see if you can make out the entrance to the smugglers' tunnel that runs from beside the fireplace to the coast.

Canterbury has been the cradle of Christianity in England ever since the arrival of St Augustine in 597. Although, as the Heritage Museum explains, Canterbury's history goes back over 2,000 years to the Iron Age. The focal point of this bustling medieval city is its magnihcent Gothic cathedral, mother church of the Church of [ngland and home to the shrine of Thomas A Becket. A few miles to the North is Canterbury's historic port, Whitstable, a fishing town famous for the oysters it serves in its harbounfront pubs. While in the area visit Herne Say, a traditional seaside resort with a splendid promenade and seafront gardens.

Another ancient cathedral city is Rochestet; dominated by its imposing 11th-century castle. This Georgian town was home to one of the world's most famous writers, Charles Dickens, For those of a literary turn of mind visit the Char/es Dickens Centre, which brings his life alive and follow the 'Dickens Trail' through Rochester.

Because of the South east's proximity to London, many of its attractions like Legoland, Thorpe Park, Chessington and Hampton Court are described in 'Days Away' in the Britian in Generall page. The delights of the South East's most famous seaside town, Brighton, known as 'London by the sea', are also described in 'Days Away'. The South East of England with its fruit orchards, country houses, coastal towns, castles and medieval parish churches is a 'must' in any trip to England.