Short Walks in Bedfordshire

Descriptions - Videos - Proper parking instructions

Panshanger Park

Description and Walk

Panshanger Park is part of a 1000-acre estate, now owned by Tarmac Holdings. They work in 800 acres of it, and the public has access to the other 200 acres.

The park was owned by The Earl Cowper, circa 1700, and once included the impressive Panshanger House and an orangery. The house is now gone and the orangery is delapidated and fenced-off, which makes it much less worth visiting - see our video, below.

However, very close to the orangery is the Panshanger Great Oak, reckoned to have been planted 450-500 years ago by Queen Elizabeth I. Whether it was or wasn't, it's a very impressive tree and worth a visit - our video doesn't do it justice.

Near to the orangery and the oak are views of the landscape created by Humphry Repton, considered the natural successor to the great Capability Brown.

At the bottom-left of this page there is a link to the Tarmac Holdings web page for Panshanger. We suggest a visit as it maps out routes around the park. Generally, we found the park to be not very well sign-posted, but one tip if you want to find the orangery and the oak is to follow signs for the oak trail if you can find one - we eventually did.

Short Video of Panshanger Park

Note: The video is best viewed by clicking on the 'full screen' symbol that appears at the bottom-right of the video box once the video is playing. To exit full-screen hit your escape key or click on the symbol at the bottom-right again.

Parking

Parking address: Thieves Lane, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 2WN.

Park in the car park provided, off Thieves Lane - very close to the big roundabout. There is a small sign outside with the Tarmac logo on it. Parking fee at time of writing is £2.50. A new parking area is in the offing, so this parking info may become outdated in 2022.

If the car park is full you can park in the fairly busy lane itself. As a last resort, park in Ladywood Road, which is 50-100 metres up the road from the Panshanger Park.

Google Map