Letchworth Garden City

Letchworth Garden City (more commonly Letchworth) is a town in Hertfordshire.

Understand

The first Garden City, Letchworth, began life in 1903. Built on 3,818 acres of land, this city was the brainchild of Ebenezer Howard who wrote the book titled To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform in 1898, which was reprinted in 1902 as Garden Cities of To-Morrow. Unimpressed with the cities and towns of the 19th century, his belief was that town and country should and could be married together to provide the very best for inhabitants. One hundred years on and Letchworth is a thriving town of 5,300 acres complete with tree-lined suburbs, green spaces and a town centre with ample parking, shopping and restaurants. Unfortunately the catastrophic "retail park" on the Baldock fringe of Letchworth's industrial area has sucked much of the life out of the town centre.

Get in

By train

From LONDON: Use the Great Northern Route service departing London Kings Cross Station. Letchworth or Cambridge are the final stops with the travel time varying between 35 – 50 minutes according to number of scheduled stops en route.

Get around

There is no public transportation within this city. It can be traversed by car and is not too large to traverse by walking.

See

• The First Garden City Heritage Museum. is as good a place as any to start your exploration of this area and to find out more about the Garden City Movement. You can also enjoy temporary exhibitions, which cover various subjects to do with the social history of the city. 
• 🌍 Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery. natural history of North Hertfordshire (updated Oct 2016)
• The Broadway. UK's First Roundabout Built circa 1909 (updated Oct 2016)

Do

• Standalone Farm. is a great place to take the kids for a day out. A small working working show farm set in 170 acres of Hertfordshire countryside, it offers a fabulous way to introduce children to animals and farmlife. Lambs, calves, chicks, ducks, pigs, chickens, sheep, goats, cows and horses are all there for you to meet and there is a lovely picnic area next to the children’s outdoor play area where you can enjoy lunch. There is also an indoor play area for those more gloomy days and you will find plenty of interesting displays in the exhibition barn. 
• The Broadway Cinema. is a delightful Art Deco building offering 4 screens within the original 1920s construction. Particularly keen ticket prices for weekday evenings, Fridays excepted. 
• The Greenway. is a 13 mile plus walk/cycle around the town. The bits to the north are properly paved and so I guess more suitable for buggies or wheel chairs. 
• 🌍 Nuffield Health Letchworth Garden City Fitness & Wellbeing Gym, Letchworth Lane, SG6 3NP (Next to Letchworth Hall Hotel), ☎ [phone]. Mon-Fr 6:30 AM-10 PM; Sat-Sun 8 AM-8 PM. Nuffield Health is a large corporation with many locations. Some locations, such as in Letchworth Garden City, are gyms. This facility has ample parking. Its services include a large swimming pool, a steam room, a sauna, an exercise equipment area and a café. This organisation requires membership; however, free one-day passes are always available thru the gym website. (updated Aug 2015)

Buy

• David's Music, Eastcheap (less than 2 minutes from the train station, past the hogshead), ☎ [phone]. A 'proper' record shop in the traditional mould - a good range of new and second hand music (cd and vinyl - including some rare bits), great atmosphere and excellent, knowledgable staff who are passionate about what they do. Well worth the trip to Letchworth. 
• David's Books, Eastcheap - adjoining David's music (under 2 minutes walk from the train station - opposite Wilkinsons if you need to ask for directions.). A wonderful independent bookshop, great range of new and secondhand books of all varieties - one can easily lose an hour or two upstairs there among the secondhand books. Recently changed hands but seems to be keeping the same ethos and high standards of customer service. Worth a visit to the town all on its own. 

Eat

• L’artista, 9 Eastcheap (in central Letchworth a two minute walk from the train station), ☎ [phone]. noon-11PM. Authentic Italian - very loud, very tasty, very reasonably priced. £10-20. 
• Nuffield Health Letchworth Garden City Fitness & Wellbeing Gym (see in 'Do' section) has a café, that serves light meals. While this facility requires a membership, free one-day passes are available in its website.

Drink

Letchworth was "dry" until comparatively recent times, but now has a few pubs. The Three Magnets (the name is a reference to Ebenezer Howard's urban planning theories) in Leys Avenue is the only Wetherspoons in Hertfordshire North of Stevenage.

• The Tavern, Arena Parade (town centre, opposite morrisons). The 3 magnets is truly, truly horrible. As is the Hogs Head. The Tavern is the only independent pub in the town centre and is very friendly - good food too. Live music on Thursday nights. 

Sleep

• 🌍 Mercure Letchworth Hall Hotel, Letchworth Ln, ☎ [phone]. 

Go next

• Cambridge Famous academic city. Approx 2 trains/hour.
• Country Villages There are numerous attractive local villages. The entry for Stevenage has details of some of these.

Routes through Letchworth Garden City

Peterborough ← merges with ←

N  S

→ Stevenage → London