Welwyn Garden City Circular

9 May. Eleven of us left the station at Welwyn Garden City to see that the gardens in the city centre were full of roundabouts, fast food vans and a stage for the city’s festival. We restrained ourselves from joining in the festivities and set off walking through the lovely garden city to the woods, where the birds were singing loudly, there was dappled sunlight through the trees and we were at one with nature!

We crossed a bridge over the A1(M) to Ayot Green, then a short walk along a quiet country lane took us to steps up to a disused railway line, which we followed for almost an hour. Sometimes we were up high with some fine views of the surrounding countryside between the trees next to the path and sometimes we were low down in a cutting.

The next hour was mostly along paths next to fields, with the occasional lightly wooded area, until we reached a lane on the outskirts of Ayot St Lawrence. We walked along the lane, crossed a field and turned to look at the neo-classical church across the field.

The church is known as the “new church”, but is actually 248 years old as it was built in 1778. Sir Lionel Lyde, a successful merchant in commodities like tobacco, had bought a mansion called Ayot House, whose view of the countryside was obstructed by the old church. So he had the old church partly demolished and built the new church, which is a prime example of the then fashionable Grecian Revival style. 

It is a Grade 1 listed historic building, but we were not impressed as we thought it to be an incongruous folly, replacing a much more traditional English village church. We were even less impressed to learn that Historic England state that the new church was financed with profits from the slave trade.

We then went through a kissing gate and along a path leading to the main road of the village, where we saw the ruined old church, which dates back to the 12th century and is a Grade 2* listed historic building. Unfortunately, it has become unsafe to walk around the ruined church.

Four picnickers stayed in the grassed area in front of the old church. Seven of us went to eat at the atmospheric 16th century pub, the Brocket Arms. The weather was excellent, so when the picnickers came to the pub, they went to a table in the garden. 

We were surprised to find a large enclosure in the pub’s garden with two very large tortoises, not as big as the Giant Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands, but much larger than the tortoises we normally see in this country.

After leaving the pub, we briefly walked along a lane before spending 30 minutes crossing 5 large fields with good views on both sides. Shortly after, we entered the parkland of the house Ayot Place. However, we could only catch glimpses of this Elizabethan stately home through the trees and bushes surrounding the building. 

We left the estate by crossing a field and then rejoined the disused railway line for 15 minutes before walking along the lane back to Ayot Green and the bridge over the A1(M). We then took a different route on the way back through the woods to Welwyn Garden City.

With thanks to Elisabeth for most of the photos.

Terry