The Holly Bush - Route 2

(S/E) With your back to the Hollybush pub, turn right and follow Church End road towards the church. Walk through the gate and into the Church of St Mary’s pretty grounds. Follow the path towards the church and explore before turning to the left to exit the church grounds. With your back to the church gate, cross the road and then turn right. Follow the road for around 100m until you see a footpath on the left after the row of houses.

(1) Follow the footpath up a slight hill until you meet the Nickey Line which is a 7 mile long Chilterns Cycleway that links Harpenden to Hemel Hempstead. Turn left onto the path and enjoy a leisurely stroll along the Nickey Line for about 1000m until it meeds a road (Chequer Lane).

(2) Cross this road and continue walking along the Nickey Line cycleway. After another 600m you will see a turning on your left with a small set of steps going up and a signpost to “Redbourn High Street”.

(3) Take these steps and follow the footpath that turns left and right and then takes you through a pretty residential road (Waterend Lane) This road then takes you out onto the busy high street.

(4) Cross the road and take the alley path between houses that is almost directly opposite (slightly to the right). This path emerges onto the back end of the Redbourn Common and you can then join the beautiful tree-lined footpath that takes you all the way though the common, passing memorial and cricket pitch as it goes. At the very end, the path meets the Church End Road. Follow the road for 50m or so, and The Hollybush is on your right.(S/E)

St Mary’s Church dates back to the 12th Century with the Nave and the West Tower being the oldest parts.

The Redbourn Common, located in the centre of Redbourn, is owned and managed by Redbourn Parish Council as an area of species rich semi-natural grassland. Informal recreation and walking are the principal uses of the common and it also hosts a cricket ground and an enclosed children’s playground. The common used to be a 9 hole golf course in the early 1900’s and during the First World War it was used as a rifle range. A war memorial is located at one end of the common.

The Nickey Line in Hertfordshire is a former railway line that is now a footpath and cycleway that links Harpenden, Redbourn and Hemel Hempstead. It was opened as a footpath /cycleway in 1985.