Balls Park

A proper riverside walk rather than a manicured attraction - Balls Park sits just outside Hertford along the River Lea, and it's the sort of place you'd stumble upon by accident and wonder why you hadn't been before. The park is essentially open grassland sloping down to the water, with mature trees dotted about and decent paths that actually go somewhere, not just loop back on themselves.

What you're really after here is the walking. The Lea Valley Walk passes through, which means you can join it from Hertford and make an afternoon of it. The river itself is the draw - widened here into something more lake-like, it attracts waterfowl and gives the whole spot a proper sense of escape despite being minutes from town. In spring and early summer the banks are thick with wildflowers. It's genuinely lovely.

This suits walkers more than anyone else, honestly. Families with young children might manage an hour, but there's not much infrastructure - no café, no play equipment. What you get is peace and a working landscape rather than a tourist experience. Free to enter, naturally. Allow two to three hours if you're doing the longer walk into Hertford itself.

If you're based at Hertford Camping and Caravanning Club Site just down the road, this is your local walk - no need to drive anywhere. Even from Lee Valley Caravan Park at Dobbs Weir, it's a reasonable detour. The whole valley is excellent for exploring on foot across several visits.