Places to explore in HertfordshireEngland · East of England

Long Norman abbey church over Roman Verulamium.

Jacobean palace of the Cecils and Elizabeth I.

Granite column of 1832 rising above the Ashridge beeches near Aldbury, climbable in summer for a thirty-mile view across the Chilterns.

Four Victorian reservoirs built to feed the Grand Union Canal on the Chiltern edge near Tring, now a noted birdwatching reserve.

Rows of lavender and sunflowers you can walk and cut on a chalk hillside at Ickleford, above Hitchin, at their best in high summer.

Common-side dining pub on the edge of Harpenden.

Beech woods and chalk downland within easy reach of London, laced with old ridge paths and grazing red kites

838 km²

Historic city grown from the Roman town of Verulamium, its cathedral and medieval streets rising above the Ver and Verulamium Park.

Hertfordshire

Deep wooded Iron Age earthwork on the edge of Wheathampstead, thought to be part of a stronghold of the Catuvellauni tribe.

The 2012 Olympic white-water course near Waltham Cross, open for rafting and kayaking over the rapids.

Walter Rothschild's own zoological museum in Tring, its Victorian galleries crammed with mounted animals from around the world.

Family wildlife park near Broxbourne with big cats and hundreds of exotic animals, voted a top county attraction.