Dacorum

Properties and events in Dacorum

Before heading out for your Heritage Open Days visit, please check entries for last-minute changes.

Print selected events below

'A Walk Back in Time' - History of Berkhamsted in 10 historical buildings

Berkhamsted Castle, White Hill, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1LJ
In person
Pre-booking required

A guided tour of Berkhamsted's historic town centre, pointing out strategic places and buildings of interest.

A Radical Village - the Baptists in Northchurch

Northchurch Social Centre, Bell Lane, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 3RD
In person
Pre-booking required

An introductory talk outlining the strength of Non-conformity in the area, especially in the villages. This guided tour outlines the story of the Baptists in Northchurch. The tour starts in the Car Park of Northchurch Social Centre.

A Walk into the Past: Berkhamsted Place, Successor to the Castle

Top of Castle Hill, Berkhamsted Place, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1HU
In person
Pre-booking required

A Walk in the Past: Berkhamsted Place A successor to the castle. Tour includes the surviving servants quarter, kitchen garden with Victorian vinery and the awesome Great Barn, the largest in Herts!

Amersfort Garden Tour

Amersfort Hall, The Common, Potten End, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2QF
In person
Pre-booking required

Amersfort, a fine Arts and Craft House and garden, designed by Ernest Willmott and planted by Gertrude Jekyll. Both house and garden are adapted to the surrounding landscape.

Ashridge House and the Curse of the Bridgewaters

Ashridge House, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1NS
In person
Pre-booking required

Discover the dark past of Ashridge House, a former monastery used by Henry VIII for his children. This woodland walk explores ancient, uneven ground unsuitable for wheelchairs. Dan would be happy to do a separate date for those with mobility issues.

Berkhamsted Baptist Church

1 Ravens Lane, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2YD
In person
Pre-booking not required

There has been a community of Baptists in Berkhamsted since 1640. Why not pop in and look around our current building. Opened in 1865, it has a largely unaltered interior typical of non-conformist church buildings of the period.

Berkhamsted Castle Guided Tour

Berkhamsted Castle, White Hill, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1LJ
In person
Pre-booking required

Free guided tour of the ruins of this fine motte and bailey castle, with many royal associations, led by experienced volunteers from Berkhamsted Castle Trust.

Berkhamsted Foundling Hospital - Memories of Childhood

Ashlyns School, Chesham Road, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 3AH
In person
Pre-booking required

A former Foundling will tell us what life was like for the children in Berkhamsted Foundling Hospital 1935-55. Walking around the present Ashlyns School they will recall memories and feelings of those days.

Berkhamsted Railway Walk

Crystal Palace, Station Road, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2EZ
In person
Pre-booking required

A trip down memory lane of Berkhamsted Railway

Berkhamsted's Buried Builders (and Others)

Rectory Lane Cemetery, Rectory Lane, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2DH
In person
Pre-booking preferred

Who designed this? Who built that? Why is that there? Discovery tour of the architects, builders and planners who rest in peace in our beautiful cemetery but who left a lasting built legacy in the market town of Berkhamsted.

Berkhamsted's Finest Architect: Charles Henry Rew

All Saints Church, Shrublands Road, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 3HY
In person
Pre-booking required

This tour celebrates the remarkable, but largely forgotten legacy of Charles Henry Rew, who designed pretty well all major and many other buildings of late Victorian/Edwardian Berkhamsted.

BFI National Film & Television Archive

B F I National Archive, Kingshill Way, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 3TP
In person
Pre-booking preferred

In the 90th year of the BFI National Archive, see the specialist skills and knowledge involved in preserving the UK's screen heritage. We will host tours, demos and exhibits, all celebrating the BFI collection and the people who work to maintain it

Display of the Lost Buildings of Berkhamsted

St Peter's Church, High Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2AX
In person
Pre-booking not required

A timeline of Berkhamsted history through a photographic exhibition of lost buildings from Roman times to present day.

Frogmore Paper Mill – the birthplace of paper’s industrial revolution

Frogmore Paper Mill, Fourdrinier Way, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP3 9RY
In person
Pre-booking required

Frogmore Paper Mill is the world's oldest mechanised paper mill; the birthplace of paper's industrial revolution. The visits during Heritage Open Days are some of the first for several years as the site suffered severe fire damage in 2022.

Gadebridge Roman Villa and Baths, Hemel Hempstead

Galley Hill, Leighton Buzzard Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 3LW
In person
Pre-booking required

Dr David Neal, the archaeologist who first excavated the Gadebridge Villa and Bath House following its discovery in the 1960s, provides a tour of the site and explains what lays under our feet.

Gadespring Watercress Beds

Old Fishery Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 2BN
In person
Pre-booking required

Discover the history of a once thriving local industry and tour the original watercress farm on the River Bulbourne. The site has been naturalised during the inactivity of the watercress farm and is now a wildlife habitat.

Hemel Hempstead Friends (Quaker) Meeting House & Burial Ground (built 1718)

1 The Alleys, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5ZB
In person
Pre-booking preferred

Discover over 300 years of local history, view the Grade II listed Quaker Meeting House and hear about the people interred in the adjacent burial ground.

Hemel Hempstead Old Town guided walk

St Mary's Church, High Street, Old Town, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 3AE
In person
Pre-booking required

Take a guided walk through the historical Old Town and learn about buildings dating back to the 1500s, the 850 year old St Mary’s Church (Grade I Listed) and the lives of the people who lived and worked here.

Hemel Hempstead Old Town Hall

High Street, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 3AE
In person
Pre-booking required

Join a guided tour of Hemel's Old Town Hall to find out about its fascinating history which reveals the political, economic and social aspirations of local people in the 1800s.

Huckvale heritage trail of Tring

Tring Local History Museum, The Market Place, Brook Street, Tring, Hertfordshire, HP23 5ED
In person
Pre-booking not required

Guided walk featuring the work of architect William Huckvale (1848-1936)