Walks from Welwyn Garden City

Rolling Hertfordshire countryside, landscaped parkland, arable fields, picturesque village and Gothic church ruin.

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

Gently undulating woodland, open fields, deer park, golf course, nature reserve and formal garden city streets.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

The rest of the walk is stunning, varied, and very enjoyable. A varied route through Hertfordshire, beginning on dull town streets and an industrial estate before reaching Panshanger Park with its meadows, woods, the River Mimram and a lake, then an undulating cut-through into Hertford. Paths are mostly good and mud-free and but narrow with a camber and several kissing gates; one stretch on Panshanger Lane has no pavement. The permissive paths through Panshanger Park are safe and quiet; long-horned cattle graze in some meadows, and wildlife includes spoonbills. No village halfway, but shops at either end and benches by the lakes.

Time: 2h30–5h30

Lunch: No facilities midway; shops at either end.

Warnings: A quarter urban. A short stretch on Panshanger Lane has no pavement and only a poor verge on a curved road; take care. A footbridge over the railway at both ends involves stairs.

Walk details: Slow Ways.

Lovely views over the Lea Valley; Excellent views over the rolling countryside. A route through some nice scenery, following an old railway path (the Ayot Greenway) on compacted grit, plus a river walk, rolling hills and farmland, with the lovely Sherrardspark Wood near Welwyn. Largely free of mud thanks to sand and gravel over chalk; hills, narrow paths and kissing gates and steps. Follows the Ayot Greenway, a former railway bed, with views over the Lea Valley; passes Sherrardspark Wood; there is a picnic spot en route.

Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.

Time: 3h30–6h30

Lunch: Plenty of food and drink at both ends; Wheathampstead has a Tesco Express, cafes and pubs, and a farm cafe at Croft Farm (check opening hours).

Warnings: The roads at Ayot Green can flood after heavy rain.

Walk details: Slow Ways.