Hertfordshire
The County
Home county Hertfordshire is a consistently popular property search destination, as our property buying agent can confirm. Main market town Hertford is named for a hart, or stag, and a ford – ask your property search company about the county flag and coat of arms.
For a property buyer seeking relatively urban lifestyles, St Albans is the county’s only city: our Recoco buying agent can detail latest population figures, around 150,000. The county’s entire population is about 1 million: ask our Recoco property finder about other large towns like Hemel Hempstead, Letchworth, Stevenage, and Watford. Or get your real estate buyers agent to check out property near the county borders of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, and Greater London.
Property buyer who enjoys history? Our boutique buying agents will be able to present wide-ranging historical and newer architecture, including post-World War Two towns. St Albans city centre includes a Norman abbey and cathedral; or ask our boutique buying agents about Hitchin’s Tudor and Stuart buildings. Our property search company can also help narrow your search to locations like Stevenage, with its mix of new town and older structures.
Much undeveloped land is protected as part of the green belt; ask buyers agents for more details. If country life appeals, tell your real estate buyers agent. Hertfordshire buyers agents can show you pretty villages sprinkled over the more rural eastern countryside. Or ask your Recoco buying agent about the west and the Chiltern Hills, part of an Area of Outstanding Beauty.
There are several global companies have chosen the county for their headquarters, including Tesco, Roche UK, Ocado, and JD Wetherspoon. Our property buying agent can confirm other industries important to the county’s wealth: aviation, brick making, clay, and engineering.
Transport
Your property search company can outline excellent railway and motorway links to London: Great Northern and Thameslink provide East Coast and Midland Main Line frequent and regular rail services. The Recoco buying agent can supply more information.
Independent buying agents can also confirm Luton and Stansted Airport are both less than 10 miles from the county borders. For light aircraft, ask our property buying agent about the commercial airfield at Elstree. And several important roads run through the county – our real estate buyers agent can provide a property search near the M25, M11, M1, A1, A1(M), A41, or A414.
History
Evidence of settlement dates from Mesolithic times; in the first century, the native Catuvellauni tribe quickly submitted to the Romans, adopting a new way of life. County maps reflect Anglo Saxon influence: our Recoco property finder can identify many place names ending in bourn, den, ford, ley, stead, ton, wood, or worth. During the Industrial Revolution the county’s prosperity was cemented: buyers agents can show the dramatic population increase. Or ask our independent buying agents about Stevenage, the first New Town in the UK.
Leisure and Events
Professional football teams include Stevenage FC and Watford FC. Other activities include the Warner Bros. Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour, and attractive estates like Aldenham Country Park, Cedars Park, Berkhamsted Castle, Hatfield House, and Knebworth House. Walks include the Ridgeway, Grand Union Canal Walk, Hertfordshire Way and the Hertfordshire Chain Walk.
Or ask your Recoco property finder about the Henry Moore Foundation sculptures at Much Hadham. Our boutique buying agents may also mention Roman town Verulamium – remains include an amphitheatre.
Education
If education is important to your property search, the county has over two dozen independent schools, over seventy state secondary schools and some partially selective schools in the southwest and south of the county. There are no sixth form colleges: all state schools have their own sixth forms; colleges include West Herts, Oaklands, North Hertfordshire, and Hertford Regional. Over 23,000 students are enrolled at the modern University of Hertfordshire, mostly in Hatfield.
Celebrity Connections
Hertfordshire has many literary links, and has inspired settings in several well-known works of stage, screen, and literature, including The Importance of Being Earnest, Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, Howards End, and Animal Farm.
Foodies’ Corner
Hertfordshire is known for excellent fresh produce; the county is packed with first rate farm shops and delightfully named farms like Wobbly Bottom. In season, berries, asparagus, beetroot and pumpkins are excellent, and your independent buying agents can outline the once vast watercress fields around Hemel Hempstead. If allergies allow, try free range eggs, or raw milk ice cream from Dawlicious. Feeling indulgent? Head over to chocolate outlets including Lessiter’s and Yvettes.
Fun Fact
Letchworth became the first garden city in the world in 1903.