20 Attractions to Explore Near Luton Hoo Estate

Stockwood is a public park made from the grounds of what was a stately home from 1740-1964. The former walled vegetable garden now has a set of well-maintained period gardens'. They include a Victorian garden, a cottage garden and a knot garden. The surrounding landscape garden has a sculpture by Ian Hamilton Findlay. The park was originally the estate and grounds to Stockwood House, which was demolished in 1964.

There’s so much to discover at Stockwood, which includes Beautiful gardens, interactive exhibitions and the largest carriage collection in Europe. The discovery centre displays collections of local social history, archaeology, geology and rural crafts. It also houses the biggest collection of horse-drawn carriages in Europe, the Mossman Collection.

Someries Castle is one of the biggest and earliest surviving brick buildings of this type in England and is therefore of great significance. The house is unique in that it is regarded as one of the first brick buildings in England. Demolished in the 1700s, the fine brickwork can still be seen in the remains of the gatehouse. A unique place to visit and you can spend some good time in the history of England.

Woodside Animal Farm in Slip End Village, near Luton, is a great day out. Plenty of Animals on show and lots to see and do, including a Fun Fair and Crazy Golf. It has exotic animals to see and feed. Children are encouraged to get 'touchy-feely' with many, including rabbits, goats, chicks and ducklings. It proves to be an ideal environment for group and educational visits.

Rothamsted Park is a huge 56-acre public park adjacent to the world-famous Rothamsted Experimental Research Centre, which includes a sports centre, a paddling pool and an indoor swimming pool, the park is much loved for its wide-open spaces which provide opportunities for walking and relaxation. There is also a popular children’s play area and the District’s only purpose-built skateboard Park.

Wardown Park is one of seven district parks in Luton, providing a green refuge within walking distance of the town centre. It provides the setting for Wardown Park Museum and offers a wide range of opportunities for formal and informal recreational activities. With its outstanding features and is one of the most visited parks in Luton. It provides an oasis of calm within walking distance of the town center.

Wardown House, Museum and Gallery is situated in the beautiful landscaped Wardown Park, on the outskirts of Luton town centre. The house was formerly the home of the Scargill family, then a military hospital and is now a museum and gallery. It was one of two free admission museums situated in Luton which are part of the charitable trust, Luton Culture.

Redbournbury Mill is a fully restored 18th century working watermill on the River Ver just north of St Albans. The mill produces and sells stoneground organic flour, with the adjacent bakery producing a variety of bread from the mill’s organic flours.

Approximately 7 miles long, the Nickey Line footpath and cycleway in Hertfordshire is a former railway line. The Nickey Line now forms a pleasant green corridor, a footpath and a cycleway, forming part of the National Cycle Network, providing attractive countryside and woodland walks, as well as a traffic-free route to school or work. The route is approximately seven miles long.

Shaw's Corner was the primary residence of the renowned Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw; The house was designed very much in the Arts and Crafts style with stained glass windows and hearts cut into the banisters. It tells the story of his life and gives a great description of much of his life. The Arts and Crafts interiors are small yet beautiful. The garden contains a revolving summerhouse where Shaw used to work.

Heartwood Forest is an extraordinary and special place that has transformed a vast area of former farmland in London’s greenbelt. It is home to over half a million new saplings, stunning ancient woodland, a native arboretum and a community orchard. Incredibly, it takes just 12 years to turn bare land into flourishing native woodland, complete with a diverse range of wildlife and towering trees.

St Paul's Walden Bury is a notable landscape garden, laid out in the early 18th-century, covering about 50 acres. It is the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The surrounding estate, with its arable and livestock farm and its ancient woodland, is a traditional country estate set in the heart of the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside.

A beautiful natural location that was covered with trees, hedges, and shrubs planted in the form of a medieval cathedral. This incredible Tree Cathedral was created after the First World War in the spirit of "faith, hope, and reconciliation". The cathedral, which covers 26 acres, was begun in the interwar years in an effort to foster ‘Faith, hope and reconciliation’. The Tree Cathedral contains chapels meant for each of the four seasons.

Dunstable Downs is the highest point in the East of England and one of the best-known viewpoints on the Chilterns ridge, which was situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the edge of the Chiltern Hills. It attracts a lot of tourists and also its views are truly mesmerizing.

Dunstable Downs is the highest point in the East of England and one of the best-known viewpoints on the Chilterns ridge. The chalk grasslands of the Downs have miles of footpaths and circular walks to enjoy. Because of its elevation, Dunstable Downs hosted a station in the shutter telegraph chain which connected the Admiralty in London. It was one of the iconic locations in this area and it will be a memorable moment too.

A once immense mansion constructed in 1563-8 by the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Sir Nicholas Bacon. A prolific builder, Sir Nicholas spent many years expanding and adapting the residence - the showpiece of which was undoubtedly an elaborate and expensive porch adorning the entrance. The house was built partly from bricks taken from the old Abbey buildings at St Albans, then in process of demolition following the Benedictine priory's dissolution some 25 years earlier.

A huge wildlife park which was located at Whipsnade, which was one of two zoos that are owned by the Zoological Society of London. It covers 600 acres. Due to its size, inside the park, visitors may walk, use the zoo's bus service, or drive their own cars between the various animal enclosures, or through an 'Asian' area where some animals are allowed to roam free around the cars.

Houghton Hall was commissioned as a private estate in 1700 by Alice Brandreth, it was part of a much larger land holding of one Henry Brandreth who once owned all of what is now Houghton Regis. It now presents as a path running around the periphery of a number of large fields. Some are mowed and others are left to grow, presumably in order to support small wildlife: butterflies and such.

The Icknield Way Trail passes along an ancient chalk ridge but there is a variety of landscapes to view including flat fenland and rolling chalk downland, as well as picturesque villages and ancient beech woodland. It is generally said to be one of the oldest roads, the route of which can still be traced, being one of the few long-distance trackways to have existed before the Romans occupied the country.

Amaravati is a Theravada Buddhist monastery situated at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in south-east England. It is near the Hertfordshire village of Great Gaddesden. Its chief priorities are the training and support of a resident monastic community, and the facilitation for monastic and lay people alike of the practice of the Buddha's teachings. It was located in an iconic location and is famous in this area.