The East Herts Miniature railway is in the Van Hage Garden Centre in Great Amwell. The garden centre itself is a great destination for mooching around: it’s massive and our toddler loved wandering around but the main attraction for him was the railway – he could have stayed watching that for ages!
We’d never been to a Van Hage garden centre before and the Great Amwell one had a holiday village type feel. It was huge and as well as the normal garden things to buy had a book shop, sweet shop, clothes shop and cafe!
It also has free animal gardens (which were opening the following weekend after a refurbishment) and a Ventura Zoological Wildlife experience, which is free for under threes. We didn’t end up going in there as our son didn’t want to go in…probably because he wanted to get back to the railway!
The railway is pretty special. Run entirely by volunteers, a lot of work has gone into creating a perfectly formed little track with features dotted all around to keep you interested.
They obviously take a lot of care of their engines and everything is done properly. Our son was entranced!
With rides only being £1 each (under twos go free), we went on it three times! On the route, there’s a bridge over a pond, a tunnel you go through (which is surprisingly hot and watch out if you’re tall) and lots of gnomes and other characters to look out for. We enjoyed it a lot and it seems they are building an extension so I hope we get a chance to come back and try that when it’s ready.
The East Herts Miniature Railway Society
Van Hage Great Amwell Garden Centre