We’d seen the deer from the tube window: look left as you’re sliding into Watford Met and you’ll just be able to make them out (as well as goats and ponies) through the trees. We’d always wondered what the site was, until we chanced upon the sign below earlier in the summer. Cassiobury Farm and…
Author: New to Watford
Ashridge Estate (31/07/16)
The Ashridge Estate comprises 5000 acres of free-to-explore woodland just outside Berkhamsted on the edge of the Chilterns. We drove up there on what turned out to be a very busy day – there was a huge geotagging event on, with hundreds of people having breakfast at the large café adjoining the visitor centre. That said the driveway…
Tarboush, Market Street (30/07/16)
We’d been to Lebanese restaurant Tarboush once before, but not with our son, and fancied a tasty, inexpensive meal out as a family. Again, the experience was wonderful, and the staff could not have been more accommodating. We had four meze dishes between us – lamb arayes (see the pic below), halloumi, hummus, the house salad with…
St. Michael and All Angels (30/07/16)
Some early evening summer sun at St Michael’s. The church runs a fantastic toddler group 10-11.30am on Monday mornings. More about the church
Cassiobury Park (25/07/16)
A bit of colour in Cassiobury Park on a Monday morning in July.
Miniature railway, Cassiobury Park (24/07/16)
Just by the side of the larger playground in Cassiobury Park, there’s a miniature railway that’s an affordable treat for the little people in your life. The ride lasts about seven minutes and you get to go on a meandering route through the woods. Our train obsessed son took it all very seriously. We’re hoping his…
Imagine Street Theatre (03/07/16)
We had really wanted to catch some of the Imagine festival’s shows whilst they were running but one thing or another meant we could only sit in on the end of the Sigma show. It had drawn a decent crowd and because we were late arrivals, we couldn’t manage to get that close – this…
The Matchstick House (02/07/16)
We always call this the “Matchstick house” or the “Hansel and Gretel house”. It is definitely a Watford landmark and can be found at the junction of Gade Avenue and Rickmansworth Road.
Grand Union Canal (02/07/16)
A morning walk down the Cassiobury Park section of the canal yielded some stunning photos.
George Street Canteen, St. Albans (19/06/16)
Just round the back of the cathedral, you’ll find the George Street Canteen tucked away in a courtyard. We’re not sure what it used to be but now it’s a café that does great breakfasts. We went there after parking in the car park near the Westminster Lodge leisure centre (two hours free parking by the way)…
Butts Meadow playground, Berkhamsted (29/05/16)
We fell in love with Berkhamsted when we visited it for the first time after it had snowed the night before. It looked absolutely magical on the drive in and walking about in the snow. We saw a lot of families in the Costa Coffee coming in with sledges and we wondered where they had been…
Pope’s Yard Pop-up Bar (28/05/16)
Watford’s only microbrewery Pope’s Yard opened its doors for a few days for locals to sample its range of cask and bottled beers. The brewery’s located in a unit at 477-479 Whippendell Road (the ‘Whippendell Group’ building) and would have been pretty easy to miss if signs hadn’t been helpfully placed outside. Four beers were…
Cassiobury Park in bloom (05/05/16)
Cassiobury Park doesn’t have a lot of flowers so we were very pleasantly surprised to come across a clump of colourful azaleas and rhododendrons in the north east of the park.
Bakehouse Cafe, St.Albans (17/04/16)
Scouring St. Albans for a yummy eating stop, we came across the Bakehouse Café. Situated near the cathedral, it’s in a good spot for having some refreshments after visiting the playground in the Verulamium Park. We stopped for brunch one April morning and pretty much wanted to try everything on their menu! In the end…
Watford and Croxley Green canal walk (10/04/16)
One sunny morning in April, we decided to take a walk that combined catching the tube from Watford to Croxley Green, having elevenses at CoCo Deli and then walking home via the canal and the Cassiobury park playground. Our son loves trains so getting the tube was a real treat for him. Not so for…
The Parrots of Cassiobury (03/04/16)
A flash of green. A streak of yellow and blue. Look up in Cassiobury Park and you might just see something you’re not expecting … We’ve seen a couple of what we thought were parrots before, in the trees around the Gade Avenue car park. When we finally managed to photograph them we realised they…