Walks in Hertfordshire by train

Beginner-friendly: It’s nearly all in a big National Trust estate that’s extremely well sign-posted. It’s completely fine to deviate from the route — explore and shorten as you like! The lunch options are simple cafés, so no messing around with booking a table in advance. The Ashridge Estate is very beautiful if you appreciate woodland, and covers more then enough ground to cover a day of hiking in itself. There are paths everywhere and you can wander freely. Ancient trees, rolling chalk downlands and lush meadows.

Woodland: half under tree cover.

Ashridge Estate (National Trust)

The Ashridge Estate Café (National Trust; 45m in)

Pitstone Common Woodland Walk (National Trust; 1h in)

Ashridge House (2h15 in)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

2 lunch spots: the Ashridge Estate Café (45m in), or Ashridge House café (2h15 in)

1 end-of-walk reward: the Valiant Trooper

Warnings: Relatively busy. Take the minor paths to avoid the crowds. Can be muddy.

Source: Trains2Green.

Recommended

St Albans Cathedral (30m in)

Verulamium Roman City Walls (45m in)

Ruins of Gorhambury House (2h in)

St Albans (2h in)

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

1 lunch spot: Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (30m in)

6 end-of-walk rewards: the Six Bells, the Lower Red Lion, the Snug, the Boot, the Mad Squirrel Tap, or the Peahen

Warnings: A third urban.

Adapted from: The Rough Guide to Walks in London & the South East (3rd edition).

Recommended: Mostly fields and country lanes. Some beautiful new bluebell woods, stunning historic city streeets, commons, golf courses and parkland.

Heartwood Forest (1h30 in)

St Albans Cathedral (4h in)

St Albans (3h30 in)

Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

4 lunch spots: Sandridge (2h in) — the Green Man (excellent; reservations recommended), Heartwood Tea Rooms (busy!), the Rose & Crown, or the Queens Head (not great)

5 end-of-walk rewards: the Lower Red Lion, the Mad Squirrel Tap, the Peahen, the Snug, or the Boot

Best months: in April (bluebell season).

Warnings: A quarter urban.

Source: Trains2Green.

Similar walks: the Saturday Walkers Club and Slow Ways (inc. GPX).

Canal towpath, ancient woodland, chalk commons, open grassy hillsides, beech and oak estate woodland and ridge paths with town views.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Reverse direction: Walking Post (inc. GPX).

Chilterns chalk ridge, farm tracks, field boundaries, grassy lanes, woods, steep chalk downland, flat-bottomed valleys, alder and willow fen woodland, chalk river and historic market town.

Time: 8h (6h walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

Warnings: Can be hilly.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Vast flat Hertfordshire arable farmland, open field edges, big skies, gentle hills, small historic villages and patches of woodland.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Can be muddy.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Way-marked trail through the Ver and Colne Valleys and linking all seven Abbey Line stations — can be done end-to-end or as individual sections with a train hop back.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Sections can become waterlogged after heavy rain, sometimes without obvious alternative routes.

Walk details: the Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership (PDF).

Common woodland, farmland tracks, river meadows, water meadows, quiet residential roads and historic city streets.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

St Albans (3h15 in)

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

3 lunch spots: Moor Mill Watermill & Inn (1h45 in), the Overdraught (2h15 in), or Rumbles Fish Bar (2h15 in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Horn, or the Robin Hood

Warnings: Can be very muddy.

Adapted from: Time Out Country Walks Volume 1.

Similar walk: the Saturday Walkers Club.

Some great views. The heart of the route follows the Nickey Line, a former railway now a wide, well-paved walking and cycling path, running through varied environments from deep cuttings to high embankments. Generally easy and reasonably dry over chalk and with a few steep hills out of Hemel and some muddy stretches; ends through Rothamsted Park. Follows the Nickey Line, an old railway branch line, now a Sustrans cycle path; well signposted with benches along the way. Stock up at either end as there is no refreshment on route without a detour to Redbourn in the middle.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Lunch: No refreshment on route without a small detour to Redbourn in the middle; plenty at both ends.

Warnings: Some busy roads to cross, and a large flight of steps up to elevated path sections with no easy step-free alternative at the B487 Queensway crossing in Hemel.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Beautiful woodland. Quite stunning in the mist. Leaves Watford alongside the River Colne through parks and winding riverside tarmac paths, a short narrow verge on Berry Grove Lane, then quiet Otterspool Lane under the A41 and M1 into beautiful woodland. A track past a golf course leads through Aldenham and across fields and with cut-through paths and quiet suburban roads into Radlett. No steps but bicycle barriers and kissing gates; some parts muddy. Passes Aldenham church and its graveyard.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

1 lunch spot: Battlers Green Farm café

Warnings: A 200m stretch of narrow verge along Berry Grove Lane (may be temporarily affected by roadworks, easy to walk around). Bicycle barriers and kissing gates, and some parts can be muddy.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Source: A segment of Abbey Trail (Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership).