Walks you can reach from West Hampstead Thameslink by train

Recommended

St Albans Cathedral (30 mins in)

Verulamium Roman City Walls (45 mins in)

Ruins of Gorhambury House (2h in)

St Albans (2h in)

1 lunch spot: Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (30 mins 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)

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).

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

St Albans (2h in)

The Devil's Dyke: A legendary beauty spot on the South Downs (National Trust).

3 lunch spots: the Swan (1h in), the Bull (1h15 in), or the Wicked Lady (2h in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Marquis of Granby, or the Amble Inn

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

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)

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.

First stage of the Vanguard Way, from suburban East Croydon out through Selsdon Wood and the North Downs to Oxted.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

River valley, wooded wetland fringes, quiet villages, rolling fields, escarpment ridge, nature reserve lakes and ancient woodland.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

Urban streets, open common, wooded paths, golf fairways, parkland and quiet roads.

Warnings: Can be muddy.

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

Gently undulating High Weald woodland of Worth Forest, past an abbey monastery and managed forest park; bluebells and fungi in season.

Walk details: Travelog Lewes (tips, photos, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Meadows, solitary chalk hills, ancient woodlands, steep chalk escarpments, chalk downland, Neolithic hill forts, ancient trackways, rolling grassy fields and hilltop village.

Warnings: Steep chalk escarpments.

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

Steep rolling downlands, chalk escarpments, hilltop views, grassy fields, pastures and ancient woodland.

Warnings: Can be hilly.

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

South London green-chain walk from Streatham's Rookery through Dulwich Woods, Horniman Gardens and Nunhead Cemetery to East Dulwich.

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).

Walk through surviving fragments of the ancient Great North Wood, from Streatham Common via Crystal Palace Park to One Tree Hill.

Woodland: a third under tree cover.

Walk details: Walking Post (tips, photos and local insights).