Brookmans Park Newsletter
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A walk around Brookmans Park
Walk Ten - 8.25 km (5 miles)

This walk might seem familiar to many, but it is surprising how different Brookmans Park looks when you circle the village by the paths and lanes around it. There is a fair amount of lane walking, although most are quiet and those that are busy have good footpaths alongside. There are footpaths too, one with wonderful views across the countryside to the north-east of the village. Two of the paths can be muddy, the one that leaves Hawkshead Lane and travels north alongside the railway and the one between Bell Bar and Welham Green. The route takes you through the middle of Gobions Wood.

Follow the red dots on the map above. The green dots offer an alternative route if it is too wet. The map above is only a sketch and not to scale. A key has been added to help people follow the maps. To help you with this walk you might want to buy an Ordnance Survey Explorer E182 map for St Albans & Hatfield or click on www.streetmap.co.uk, or www.multimap.com and print the resulting pages. If you would like to comment on any of the walks for the benefit of others, please use the forum discussion thread on the walks.

1. Park in the station car park and start the walk by passing the station ticket office and taking the path which runs just to the right of the platform footbridge.
2. Continue south, keeping the railway on your left, watch out for holes in the path which have been caused by rabbits burrowing.
3. Halfway along this path you pass a footpath sign pointing right and, soon after, the footpath you are walking becomes a bridleway leading to Hawkshead Lane.
4. Turn left, cross the railway bridge, and look out for a footpath sign on your left immediately after. (If it is very wet, ignore this path and continue down Hawkshead Lane, turning left at the end and walk downhill to the bridge, which is called Blue bridge, just before the entrance to Brookmans Park.)
5. If you take the path, continue downhill with the railway track on your left. When you reach the small stream and the backs of the houses, the path veers to the right and joins Bluebridge Road at a set of wooden steps. This field is often ploughed, making it difficult to find the path. Just keep walking along the edge with the railway on your left and you will be okay.
6. Cross the road (take care here, some motorists test their car's performance at this point) and head for a footpath sign to the south of the road bridge on the east side of the road.
7. Walk down this path, keeping the stream on your left. There is a metal handrail to stop you falling in the river and a cottage on your right. Soon fields open up on your right and there are hedges and trees on your left. Don't turn left here, keep the river bed on your left and the field on your right (watch the barbed wire at the top of the field fence). Keep following this narrow path as it follows the curve of the field.
8. Ignore a stile on your right which take FP11 (Footpath 11) across the field (often occupied by friendly horses), and keep walking with the river bed on your left and the field on your right.
9. This path continues until it reaches Gobions Wood at a point where the footpath swings round to the right and starts to climb. Look for a gap in the hedgerow to the left here and enter Gobions Wood. There is a sign marking the beginning of the conservation area.
10. Keep following the path, with the stream on your left. Ignore the first wooden bridge on your left and keep straight over a few small plank bridges crossing streams.
11. At the next fork in the path, take the route which curves to the right and climbs south-east before bending left at the souther boundary of Gobions Woodland.
12. The path continues skirts the south side of Gobions and twists and turns until it reaches the bridge over the ornamental ponds.
13. As you reach the pond you will see a large wooden footbridge on your left. Cross it and head straight uphill, slightly to your left, to a small wooden bridge.
14. Cross that small wooden bridge and keep walking straight. You should have an open field on your right with views over to the Brookmans Park Transmitting Station and views of the backs of the houses on Mymms Drive. A hedge with a small pond is on your left.
15. Go through a metal bachelor gate and, keeping to the right, skirt the right hand side of Gobions Pond as it turns first right and then veers left to a fork in the path by a tree. Turn right.
16. This path joins Mymms Drive where you turn left and continue uphill to Georges Wood Road.
17. Turn left on Georges Wood Road and immediately turn right, down the lane to Brookmans Park Golf Club.
18. When you reach the golf club, you will notice a track on the right going behind Chancellor's School. Take this path and follow it round until it meets the top of Pine Grove.
19. Keep going straight, and slightly to your left, down another gravel track until you reach a lane. Turn left.
20. At this point you have the option of walking down the main road a few metres to the Cock O' The North pub for refreshments.
21. Follow the lane until it turns right before a sharp right turn. Straight ahead and slightly to your left is a wooden bachelor gate. (Here you have the option of walking along a footpath straight ahead or, if it is too wet continuing down the lane until you reach Bulls Lane where you turn left and follow the lane down to the Welham Green railway bridge.)
22. If you take the footpath, keep going straight with the woodland on your left and the fields on you right.
23. This path has good views across the countryside to the north and west.
24. Continue along it keeping the woodland on your left as the path goes through several well maintained bachelor gates and across one small footbridge spanning a ditch.
25. Eventually it meets a green chain fence and your way is to the right across a soggy piece of ground, before you reach a wooden bachelor gate leading to a footbridge.
26. Cross this bridge and continue along this path until it joins Bulls Lane near Skimpans Bridge.
27. Go under the bridge and turn immediately left down a gravel track which leads round to the right past North Mymms football ground and through woodland, before reaching a set of wooden steps leading down to a track.
28. Turn right, and follow the track until it emerges in a car park behind North Mymms Youth and Community Centre.
29. Continue until you reach the road linking Brookmans Park and Welham Green and then turn left, walking along the footpath until you reach Brookmans Park.
30. Depending on the time of day, refreshments can usually be found in Brookmans Park village.