Hatfield House and Gardens
National iconJacobean palace of the Cecils and Elizabeth I.
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Hatfield House is the great Jacobean home of the Cecils, built for Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury, between 1607 and 1612 under the master builder Robert Lyminge. A surviving wing of the older royal palace, where Elizabeth I spent part of her childhood, still stands in the grounds. Formal knot and kitchen gardens surround the house, with bluebells through the park each spring. Paid entry; Hatfield station is barely a kilometre north-west.
