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| House, Garden & Park | House |
| Garden |
| Park Walks |
 Park Walks |
The detail from a free leaflet, which can be picked up at either the gift shop and the garden kiosk, is reproduced below.
Hatfield House is the centre of a large agricultural estate and sits in 1000 acres of parkland. There are three choices of marked walks in the Park:
Green (1.1 mile / 1.8 kilometres / 30 minutes) Blue (2 miles / 3.2 kilometres / 50 minutes) Red (3.2 miles / 5.2 kilometres / 90 minutes) Please respect the ‘country code’, keep dogs under strict control and use the waste bins provided. Walking shoes or boots are recommended. START: The walks start at the illustrated board near the entrance to the Stable Yard where you can also find the restaurant, gift shop and lavatories. Walk down the Carriage Drive (the exit route from the car park) and around the horse chestnut tree at the bottom, cutting across the grass to the corner of the wood. The numbers refer to stops marked on the route map. 1: The three walks are signed by coloured arrows from the two 500 year old oaks known as the Sentinels of the Woods. The path descends into the Black Ditch. 2: This row of sycamores is shown on early Estate maps and may date from the building of the house in 1611. 3: The charred shell of the veteran oak nearby is retained, as are many on the Estate, as a habitat for specialist insects that favour standing deadwood. 4: This is naturally regenerated woodland of broad-leaved species of trees - a good contrast with the next area of commercial timber. 5: On the left is a mixed plantation of Scots pine, oak and beech planted in 1967. The western hemlocks on the right were planted in 1978. 6: This 1955 plantation has been well thinned to give the better trees room for development. The largest conifers are the Corsican pines, which are popular in the Southeast of England for softwood timber production. 7: The North Avenue is of lime and beech. The limes are hosts to some very fine mistletoe. The short green walk follows the avenue back to the house. The longer blue and red walks go along the road opposite.
8: The 16-acre Broadwater was formed by a dam in the River Lee (or Lea) to power the now redundant water mill at the far end of the lake. The area was landscaped and replanted after the 1987 storm with a number of ornamental trees. The island opposite has recently been planted with twenty different species of oak.
9: Although the castle folly dates from the 1780s the wall around the secret garden (once the South Vineyard) beyond was built in 1633. The long red walk follows the track to the right of the folly. The blue walk goes right and along the Castle Avenue towards the Queen Elizabeth Oak (to 10).
15: The Vineyard, extending to the other side of the Broadwater, was created in 1611 with 30,000 vines, some the gift of the Queen of France, planted and managed by Frenchmen. Despite this specialist input there are no records of a single bottle of wine ever being produced!
16: The Red Bridge was built in 1864. Below the mill pool is the former Estate sawmill - originally a corn mill. In 1881 the mill wheel was adapted to drive dynamos for Hatfield House, one of the first houses in the country to have electric light.
17: Daffodil Ride is particularly beautiful in the springtime when the native wild daffodils are at their best. A few oak trees in the park have been dated, using reliable modern techniques, to over 700 years old. Their longevity is due to the old practice of pollarding, which allowed a crop of wood to be taken at regular intervals. Cutting the branches high enough above the ground prevented browsing animals from impeding regrowth from the stumps.
18: The path now leaves the Home Park. Ahead and slightly left is Brick Kiln Wood stretching over the hill beyond. Deep pits still remain in the wood, from which clay was dug for centuries for making bricks. Some of them were used for building Hatfield House.
19: The vast open Showground field on the left is where the Hertfordshire Show was originally held.
20: These horse chestnuts were badly damaged in the 1987 storm and were cut back drastically to encourage regrowth. This is somewhat similar to the practice of pollarding ornamental lime and riverside willow and has produced much the same result.
The red and blue walks converge at The Queen Elizabeth Oak.
10: This is said to be the place where Queen Elizabeth 1 learned of her accession to the throne of England in 1558. Queen Elizabeth 11 planted this oak in 1985 to replace the original.
The walk crosses the field to the road by the new formal hedged plantation called Wake Wood.
11: Wake Wood was planted in 2000 to commemorate the end of an era when most of the hereditary peers were expelled from the House of Lords. There are about 25 different tree species within the hornbeam hedge. The limestone megalith in the centre, a gift of Lord Shrewsbury, came from Cauldon Low Quarries in Staffordshire. The open area of grass stretching down to the avenue is used regularly for large events.
12: The wooded area ahead and towards the house is the Elephant Dell.
13: The Elephant Oak used to have a remarkable resemblance to an elephant’s head in its trunk and branches.
14: The stream flows from the Valley along the Black Ditch to Town Bottom. To the left and through the trees is the dam of the New Pond with a cascade leading into three round pools and a circular moat constructed in 2003.
The path goes past the children’s play area and back towards the house to complete the walks.
We hope that you have enjoyed your visit to Hatfield Park. Please come again, as there is always something different to experience through the seasons.
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