Hatfield House - Aug 2006

Hatfield house - the grounds are extensive and attractive, but the suggested walks aren't very imaginative and unnecessarily take you close to the noise of the busy dual carriageway. The gardens are beautiful but a significant proportion of them are closed. I found the house to be a bit dull. There's lots of artefacts (paintings, furniture, etc) to see, but the architecture is actually pretty dull. Oh and most importantly of all the service in the cafe was awful!

The Old Palace is by the far the most interesting building, but access is limited to a tiny viewing gallery, unless you want to book a banquette. It might not come highly recommended from The Hen, but H and I still enjoyed ourselves and here's a few photos.

Everything north of Potters Bar is 'The North'	Can't resist it.
Woodland rubbish, but interesting shapes.
Close-up of the fungi.	The lake is beautiful. No other visitors were walking around the lake. They all chose to see the house and cafe!
What would you expect to find inside an impressive gatehouse like this?	That's right!
Very interesting shaped tree.	H.
An idyllic cottage in the grounds.	I can't take good pictures of teasels, but this is better than most of mine.
Inside the main gardens. The layout is really calming and sedate.
	This is as close as you'll get to the 'front' of the house. (The front drive was moved to the back when the railway came to Hatfield, so this may be the back)
The garden in front of the old palace. (Not open to the public of course, that would be crazy.)	Even if the perspective is wrong, you can see that the oldest part of the estate is the most attractive.
Houses between the park and the beautiful parish church.