We finally made it to Attenborough’s Fields in Bushey today. We parked on Wilcot Avenue and walked towards the fields via a little footpath We then passed a reservoir and some allotments to get to the fields. We had no idea that it was such a big and lovely space! There were even cows grazing…
Our primary school application tips
It’s that time, your child will be starting Reception and you need to pick your schools by the January deadline. Read on for our primary school application tips… Find your closest schools Find your closest schools on the Hertfordshire County Council website. It will list your nearest school and then the others that are closest…
Domenic’s Cafe, Watford (04/08/2019)
In the middle of the Hornets roundabout is a pedestrian zone with cafes and shops. At one end is Domenic’s Cafe, run by the same Italian family since 1983. We went for lunch and had the lasagne and salad with a kid’s ice cream and fruit for pudding. The lasagne was very tasty and the…
Croxley Green to Cassiobury Park buggy-friendly walk (02/07/19)
A buggy-friendly walk from Croxley Green to Watford via Cassiobury Park.
Watford toddler activities (25/03/19)
UPDATED FOR 2019 We live in WD18 and have tried a few baby and toddler activities nearby and a little further afield. Here’s a rundown of the things we’ve tried so far. Mondays, St. Michael and All Angels’ Church, toddler group Every Monday, even in school holidays (except bank holidays), St. Michael and All Angels’…
Having a baby in Watford (27/06/18)
We recently had a baby (our second child) and wanted to give a shout out to all the pregnancy related things we tried in Watford. Yoga Ante-natal yoga is such a lovely pregnancy experience and we would recommend Minded Yoga in central Watford. Shweta’s sessions were always peaceful and restorative. Pregnancy club We found the …
Instagram: Spring 2018 (01/06/18)
The fine spring weather made for some good photos and day trip opportunities. Here are some of our favourite pics from the past few months that we’ve posted on Instagram. Come and follow us there! Back home #Watford #Herts A post shared by @ newtowatford on May 22, 2018 at 8:51am PDT #Spring colours #interiors…
Cassiobury splendour (26/05/18)
A couple of years ago we posted photos of the splendid azaleas and rhododendrons in Cassiobury Park. These all grow in a singe, large patch just north of Café Cha. They didn’t appear last year (at least we’re pretty sure they didn’t – we looked a number of times!), but here they are in 2018, a…
Croxley Green walk and Perch and Co. (13/05/18)
With the due date of our second child getting very close, we’ve been on the look out for local walks that have toilets nearby! We decided to go to Croxleyhall Woods the other weekend for a circular walk that ended at Perch and Co. cafe near Croxley tube station. Our son loves riding his balance bike through…
Good Food Market, Bushey (11/03/18)
If you fancy treating yourself to some yummy food, visit the Good Food Market in Bushey on a Sunday from 10-3pm. We’d heard about it from a friend (who we met through this blog!) and decided to check it out as a Mother’s Day treat. We started off with a coffee from Seriously Coffee before…
Tots in the Tree Tops, Go Ape Black Park (02/02/18)
We’d heard about the toddler-friendly Go Ape course at Black Park when doing the Gruffalo trail (now the Zog Activity Trail) at Wendover Woods and chatting to one of the Go Ape staff there. Soon after we saw on Chiltern Chatter’s Twitter that there was a free taster “Tots in the Tree Tops” session on, so…
Christmas at Stockwood (17/12/17)
Our plans changed today and we were looking for a last minute rainy day activity and decided to visit Stockwood Discovery Centre’s festive event. We’re usually a bit wary of “winter wonderland” themed events thinking they’ll be rammed and overpriced but arriving at 3pm on a Sunday, Stockwood’s Christmas themed afternoon was neither of these…
New to Watford meet up
Update: we’re meeting up on Sunday 3rd December, at the Cassiobury Park Cafe Cha at 11am. Hope to see you there! We’re organising another New to Watford meet-up! This time it will be a Sunday day-time get together (so people can bring kids if they want to). We’re thinking of meeting late morning at Cafe…
An afternoon in Marlow (17/10/17)
There are lots of lovely spots by the Thames in Buckinghamshire. We haven’t explored them all yet, but one place we have been to a couple of times is Marlow. There’s a large playground by the river (with a Costa Coffee with lots of outdoor seating), and the river walk is great for watching the rowers,…
Cutteslowe Park and Jacob’s Inn, Oxford (14/10/17)
Looking for a day out? We had a great day in Oxford recently visiting Cutteslowe Park and having brunch at Jacob’s Inn. With Oxford being only an hour’s drive away on a weekend, it’s an ideal ‘day out’ distance. Both locations are near one another and away from the city centre, so there’s no need…
Harwoods Adventure Playground (06/10/17)
We managed to make it to the recently revamped Harwoods playground for the first time, on a brilliantly sunny autumn day. It was really quiet so our son had the playground pretty much to himself the whole time and he absolutely loved it! There are loads of different things to climb on and he enjoyed…
New to Watford meet up
New to Watford from London and fancy meeting up for a drink? Or just new to Watford and fancy meeting other people? We’re organising a drinks meet up via Facebook. Not on Facebook? Add your name and email below and we’ll send you the details.
Building Research Establishment (BRE) Open Day (19/09/17)
We’d missed the Building Research Establishment (BRE) open day in 2016, and were desperate to go this year after hearing great things from friends. We’d booked in advance (tickets were free), planning to spend a couple of hours there, but the huge amount of things to see and do meant that we ended up staying…
Watford Colosseum backstage tour (17/09/17)
Watford Colosseum throws open its doors each year as part of Heritage Open Days and after missing it in 2016 we were keen make it along to one of the tours. These were clearly popular as a few dozen were waiting in the lobby for the 2pm tour. After being split into groups, we firstly…
Batchworth Lock (14/09/17)
We’d walked from Watford along the Grand Union Canal as far as Croxley, but had never quite made it as far as Rickmansworth. This trip, however, wouldn’t be on foot, as our little one told use he’d like to go on a bus – and who are we to refuse?! The bus dropped us off…
Viento Coffee Company (12/09/17)
We’d heard good things about Viento Coffee Company on St Albans Road, but only managed to make it there after a summer visit to the (highly recommended) cobblers next door. A mistake, as we wished we’d discovered it months ago! We haven’t eaten there yet, but you can see there’s a great range of fresh…
Wardown House and Park (07/09/17)
We’d seen adverts for Wardown House Museum and Gallery when we visited the excellent Stockwood Discovery Park. Both museums, run by Luton Culture, seem to have benefited from significant investment in the past few years, and have clearly worked hard to provide a rich and varied visitor experience for all ages. Wardown House, just north of…
Find us on Instagram! (04/09/17)
We post some of our best photos on Instagram @newtowatford – here’s a few examples: #Watford or #Miami Beach? #quiz A post shared by @newtowatford on Aug 25, 2017 at 1:36am PDT Love these two #trees behind the #tennis courts in #Cassiobury Park #Watford #parks A post shared by @newtowatford on Aug 12, 2017 at 4:05am…
Cassiobury Farm Open Day (04/09/17)
Tucked away between the canal and the park, is Cassiobury Farm and we managed to make it to its last open day of 2017. Mr New To Watford had taken our son twice before and had come back raving about it so I was excited to check it out. The farm is built around a…
Natural History Museum, Tring (04/09/17)
The Natural History Museum in Tring is a smaller outpost of the larger museum in London. Originally a private museum built in the late nineteenth century by the Rothschild family, it became part of the Natural History Museum in 1937. It’s a short drive up in the A41 from Watford, and a favourite of ours – especially…
Redbournbury Watermill (03/09/17)
An ancient mill grinds flower. A market stall sells bread and cakes. Down the valley a horse paddles in the river ford, while over the water meadows rare wild fowl roam free. No, it’s not the Cotswolds: we’re only 20 minutes north of Watford, at Redbournbury Watermill. A mill has probably been on the site since…
Ruislip Lido and Train (27/08/17)
A Watford friend had mentioned Ruislip Lido as a good place to visit so on bank holiday Sunday, on one of the warmest days of the summer, we decided to brave the crowds and check it out. First hurdle was finding a parking spot! The council are obviously used to managing a large number of…
Summer in Cheslyn Gardens (16/08/17)
We’ve had many lovely afternoons in ‘Watford’s best-kept secret’. Last year we posted pictures of Cheslyn Gardens in late-September – here are a few taken this year in mid-summer:
Shenley Park: Music to Watch Flowers By (12/08/17)
At the end of July, Shenley Park hosted the ‘Music to Watch Flowers By‘ family music day in their Walled Garden. Shenley is surprisingly close to Watford – a 15-minute or so drive down the A41 and out the other side of Radlett. We trundled up from the field where we were parked with our…
Ragged Victorians at the Chiltern Open Air Museum (13/08/17)
The Chiltern Open Air Museum is fast becoming a favourite place to visit and the ‘Ragged Victorians’ weekend didn’t disappoint. It was one of the museum’s living history events and involved Victorian enthusiasts wandering around the site as if we had been transported back to the 1870s or thereabouts. We were very impressed by how…
Finalist in Hertfordshire Digital Awards! (01/08/17)
We’re very excited about making the final in two Hertfordshire Digital Awards categories! We’ve made it through to the final for best: Lifestyle and culture website Responsive website. Congratulations to all the other finalists! Great to see so much digital talent in Herts. We’re looking forward to the awards ceremony at Knebworth House on the…
Badger’s Crossing charity day and miniature railway (06/08/17)
Writing here a long time after the event, but we wanted to post a few pics of the excellent afternoon we had at the Badger’s Crossing miniature railway charity day last August in Watford. This is a biennial charity event put on by a family who own a large garden up on Hempstead Road. They have…
Cassiobury Park paddling pools (29/07/17)
Down at the Gade Avenue car park end of Cassiobury Park, you’ll find the new paddling pools. Opened in July, they sit just above the large playground and below Daisy’s in the Park cafe. Not knowing what the old ones were like, as we moved to Watford after they’d closed for refurbishment, we can safely say…
Berkhamsted Castle (29/07/17)
Berkhamstead Castle’s a great place to visit with kids, only a twenty-minute or so drive from Watford. The ruins of the motte-and-bailey castle are owned by English Heritage, and the site is free to get in. There’s limited free parking right outside, just next to the train station. It’s a large, grassy, safe site where…
Watford Police Station Open Day (28/07/17)
They were queuing to get in at Watford Police Station. It was the second year that the site had opened its doors to the public, and we arrived just before the start of the event. Loads of different types of police vehicles were exhibited outside, including pursuit cars (including one with a ‘cell” seat’) and…
The Big Lunch (11/06/17)
Just a quick post on The Big Lunch event we attended at St Michael & All Angels church. The annual, country-wide event was launched a few years ago for people to ‘lunch with their neighbours in a simple act of community, friendship and fun’. The Sunday lunch at the church in west Watford certainly ticked…
The Comedy Loft, Watford (10/06/17)
When was the last time you went to a comedy night? Ours was in 2006, at Up The Creek in Greenwich, where Greg Davies was the compère. We had a great time and, yes, I was picked on by at least one of the comedians for the crime of sitting at the end of an aisle…
Colourscape and Waddesdon Manor (04/06/17)
We’d seen someone post about Colourscape on at Waddeson Manor on Facebook somewhere and thought that it looked like a pretty cool event to go to and then promptly forgot about it! Luckily, we managed to remember in time to catch its last day. And we’re so glad we did as it’s really rather special. We…
Wrest Park (14/05/17)
Wrest Park is an English Heritage property about 45 minutes drive from Watford and makes for a great family day out.
Chiltern Open Air Museum (07/05/17)
The Chiltern Open Air Museum is about a 20 minute drive from Watford and well worth a visit.