St Albans Afternoon Walk & Wassail (7 miles / 11 km - Leisurely, Booking Required)

This walk is for up to 25 people, including the leader.

A leisurely afternoon walk from Highfield Park on the south eastern side of St Albans, through town, villages and countryside. The route is medium distance and relatively flat, so should be suitable for most people who have done a little country walking, but the route may be muddy in parts so walking boots are recommended.

After the walk, everyone is welcome to join an optional extra event - a traditional “wassail” organised by the Highfield Park Trust, which involves walking to a nearby orchard and singing a song to encourage a good apple harvest later in the year!

The walk will begin at noon from Highfield Park, which was created on the former grounds of two mental hospitals which closed in the 1990s - the first of several locations on our route which have changed use over the years and are great for nature and walkers. We’ll see many species of trees as we head through the park.

A short stretch through residential streets takes us into the grounds of Oaklands College, which was originally developed as an agricultural college and includes a working farm. We might see some horses and alpacas as we pass through.

We then leave the outskirts of St Albans, heading through farmland and woodland. After passing the Cemex quarry we’ll walk through grassland and scrub along the edge of Ellenbrook Fields, which was the site of Hatfield Aerodrome.

From a former airfield we’ll go to a former railway station; on the platform at Smallford we’ll stop for our packed lunch and can look down on the Alban Way, a shared-use path which used to be the Hatfield-St Albans railway line.

After passing through the small village of Sleapshyde, we’ll come to Smallford Pits; once used for landfill and now a designated Local Wildlife Site with trees, scrub and ponds. Then we head through farmland on paths along the edge of arable fields. We’ll walk up an old tree-lined lane to reach Tyttenhanger and stop for a drink at its village pub, The Plough - a free house known for its range of guest beers.

The final stage of our route takes us through an area of new woodland on the edge of Highfield Park and back to our start point. 

For those who’d like to stick around for something a bit different, we’ll then take a 5-minute walk to the park’s visitor centre to join the wassailing event, which begins at 4.30pm with a procession to the orchard. Wassailing is an ancient tradition in which people gather to wake the apple trees from their winter slumber and scare off evil spirits from the orchards. This is done by singing the wassailing song and making a noise with drums, musical instruments, pots and pans and so on. Feel free to bring something to make a noise and perhaps decorate yourself with some leaves, feathers, tinsel or festive lights! A torch and warm clothing are also recommended. The event finishes back at the visitor centre with mulled cider!

The wassailing event will finish by 6.30pm.

Dogs are welcome on a lead.

For information about walking with the group, including our dog policy, please visit the Stag Walkers website.

Booking your place: Please book your place using the free Meetup website/app. Join the Stag Walkers Meetup group and click the 'Attend' button on the event page.

Please do not turn up for a walk without booking, as places are limited.
If the walk is fully booked, please click 'join waitlist' then please check back regularly as you will likely get a place. The waitlist gives priority to single bookings so if you wish to bring a guest, we recommend booking separately.

Unless you opt in to further communications, we will only use contact information you provide to get in touch about the walk.