A Sense of Dacorum

Start & Finish: Water Gardens car park, Bridge Street, Hemel Hempstead (HP1 1EF) Grid ref: TL 053 069. *Hemel Hempstead railway station can also be used as an alternative start point.

(S/E) From the car park make your way to the riverside and turn left along the path. After passing three small bridges on the right, the path leads onto Banglafwa Water Garden Lane. Bear right onto Combe Street.

(1) On reaching Combe Street, turn right over the bridge, cross Waterhouse Street and continue ahead to the pedestrian lights (A). Cross left across Combe Street and continue up to the Marlowes and turn left in front of the Forum. Pass the end of Midland Road and cross the Marlowes at the crossing before the next roundabout (signposted Old Town Centre).

Turn right at the roundabout into Queensway and shortly after cross on the Zebra crossing and continue uphill.

(2) Soon turn left up the High Street (B). Beyond the shops continue alongside the flint wall with (C) Gadebridge Park on your left.

(3) At the roundabout cross the road and continue ahead through (D) Piccotts End.

(4) Opposite no. 152 (The Old Bakery) turn left onto the public footpath. Just after the footbridge, cross the busy road and turn right along the verge.

(5) After 30m turn left through the entrance gate up the tarmac track. Go through the next gate into Homewood Park Farm, straight on past the farm buildings and through the gate directly ahead. Follow the grass track uphill. Continue ahead between fields and enter woodland. Keep to the main track across several path junctions, passing to the left of (E) Halsey Field and to the right of some housing.

Just after a row of garages go through the kissing gate and along the footpath with houses on your left and fields on your right.

(6) On reaching the road turn right, pass the end of Parklands, and after 30m turn right onto the public footpath (signposted Potten End 1½).

Follow the path as it bends left round the edge of the field. Go through the kissing gate and continue to the left of the hedgerow. At the driveway turn left to the road. Cross the road and pass through the gate (signposted Chiltern Way). Cross diagonally left to the far field corner with Boxted House to your right. Go through the gate and continue on the footpath as it turns right and then left to a lane.

(7) At the lane turn right. Pass the pond and take the footpath on the left (Chiltern Way), soon passing to the right of a housing estate.

(8) On reaching the road (Long Chaulden), cross it and follow the footpath to the left of the adventure playground. Stay on the main track down to a small clearing with a path junction, bear right along the enclosed footpath (signposted to Northridge). Soon reach an open space. Pass to the left of the children’s playground, go straight across the grass, cross Shrubhill Road and continue ahead to the T junction.

(9) At the T-junction (with mini roundabout) turn right and follow the road as it bends left. Turn right at the second mini roundabout into Chaulden Lane and immediately left down Old Fishery Lane.

(10) Cross the canal bridge, descend the steps on the right and turn right along the towpath (F), passing under the bridge. If returning to the railway station, take the steps on the right just before the first bridge (149) and retrace your steps. For the Fishery Wharf Café, go over bridge 149 and immediately take the path to the left.

Otherwise, continue until just before the second bridge (Grand Union Canal Bridge 150).

(11) Climb the steps to the road and turn left. Take the next road on the left and walk up past The Church of St John the Evangelist. At the top of the slope cross the road. Turn right then immediately left along Heath Lane.

(12) Opposite the school turn right down Charles Street. At the bottom, bear right to cross Cotterells, and go over the main road at the pedestrian lights. Turn right then immediately left along Moor End Road to reach the riverside (G). Turn left into The Water Gardens and walk along the river back to the car park. (S/E)

"We hope you have enjoyed your walk. Please remember to rate the walk and add comments. We are interested in how we could improve the instructions or the route and would like to hear about any issues with paths on the walk."

Start & Finish: Water Gardens car park, Bridge Street, Hemel Hempstead (HP1 1EF) Grid ref: TL 053 069. *Hemel Hempstead railway station can also be used as an alternative start point.

Parking: Water Gardens car park – see above

Local Transport: Hemel Hempstead bus interchange is located on Marlowes and Bridge Street. The town is also served by train services from London Euston. Full details can be found on www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk

Terrain: Easy walking along urban pavements and country paths. Stile-free with a number of gates. One significant climb.

Food & Drink: There are many places for refreshments in the town and on the walk including Fishery Wharf Café, Fishery Rd, Hemel Hempstead HP1 1NA

*Optional start from railway station – From the station entrance, walk down through the parking area to the main road. Cross at the pedestrian lights and go through the gate ahead onto Station Moor. Take the surfaced path across the moor and go through a gate to a road (Fishery Road). Cross, turn right along the pavement and take the first set of steps on the left down to the canal towpath. Turn right at the bottom to join the main route.

This walk was created for the book "More Great Walks in the Chilterns" available from the Chiltern Society or from Amazon

(A) Hemel Hempstead New Town was one of the places designed to house Londoners made homeless by the Blitz and subsequent slum and bombsite clearance. Initial plans were drawn up by Geoffrey Jellicoe, whose vision was ‘not a city in a garden, but a city in a park.’ The first new residents moved in during 1949, and the town continued its planned expansion until the 1980s. Residential accommodation was divided into ‘neighbourhoods’, each with its own village centre. Much of the town’s business and industry was located on the outskirts, particularly in the vicinity of the M1, which was built in 1959.

(B) The Old Town’s High Street has been described as ‘the prettiest street in Hertfordshire’. Our route passes historic buildings such as the Old Town Hall and St Mary's Church, artefacts such as the old plough and water pump near the car park entrance, and cobbled alleyways leading towards Gadebridge Park. Near the end of the High Street is Warwick House, winner of the Chilterns Building Design Awards, a collaborative venture between the Chiltern Society and the Chilterns Conservation Board.

(C) Gardebridge Park Roman Remains were discovered and excavated in the area to the west of the Leighton Buzzard road, but have since been re-buried. The River Gade runs through the park, and has been undergoing improvements with the aim of providing ‘a continuous improved corridor for wildlife and people’. Here you’ll also find the Forget-me-not memorial garden, designed as a reflective and attractive space for anyone who has been touched by the death of a baby. In 2022 a new memorial area has been opened, to remember those that lost their lives during the covid pandemic.

(D) Piccotts End. You enter the village past The Marchmont Arms, formerly a regency villa and the home of Lord Marchmont. There are a number of other Georgian and Regency villas, as well as some medieval cottages. A celebrated asset is the murals inside the cottages at number 132, which date back to the beginning of the 16th century and depict biblical scenes. Unfortunately they can only be viewed by the public once a year, during Heritage Open Days in September. On your right as you leave the village is the watermill, now converted into flats.

(E) Halsey Field Wildlife Habitat is through the hedge to the right near the first houses. It is a former school playing field, now cared for by members of Dacorum Environmental Forum and the Friends of Halsey Field, with help from other organisations including the Chiltern Society.

(F) The Grand Union Canal runs for 137 miles from London to Birmingham and was the main artery for goods between the Midlands and London for about 50 years. It’s an amalgamation of several historic waterways. This section opened at the end of the 18th century as part the Grand Junction Canal, which linked the Thames at Brentford to Braunston in Northamptonshire.

(G) The River Gade rises from a spring in the chalk at Dagnall, and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then Watford. It passes Croxley Green, joining the River Colne in Rickmansworth. It used to power several watermills and supported watercress farms.