Drive Through Villages

As you drive out of St. Albans, having picked up your hire car or van, you will pass through several of the town’s surrounding villages. This article talks about a few of them, just so as you recognise the names as you’re passing through.

New Greens is a small residential area in St. Albans, and useful to pass through if you want to pick up some food and drink supplies, or perhaps to withdraw some cash before heading off on your journey.

A bit further out of St. Albans, about ten miles or so, is the village of Markyate. Its distance from St. Albans means it has been part of three counties during its time – Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and now Hertfordshire. It lies close to the River Ver, which has unfortunately flooded the centre of the village on a number of occasions, but is also only a short distance from the M1, so a good route to take if you’re heading towards that particular motorway.

If you’re heading south from St. Albans towards the M25 motorway, then you will probably come across Napsbury. Napsbury is within the London Colney parish council area but still part of the St. Albans district and close to Radlett and Potters Bar. The newly built residential development of Napsbury Park, is now known as one of the best-regarded and most exclusive residential developments in Hertfordshire.

Approximately 11 miles to the east of St. Albans, heading towards Hertford, is the village of Essendon. The village is set 100 metres above sea level and has a view of the Lea Valley to the north, which contains the Lee Valley Regional Park. The park is a diverse mix of countryside areas, urban green spaces, heritage sites, country parks, nature reserves and lakes and riverside trails. Much of the southern half of the Lee Valley Park was developed to form the Olympic Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.

Posted on July 11th 2016

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