Where to Stay in Watford, England

What is Watford known for?

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London stands on the outskirts, and the town centre gathers the Atria shopping centre, Watford Market and the Colosseum into a few walkable streets. Museum of Watford holds the local record.

St Mary's Church marks the older core, with Benskin's House and Watford Place among the buildings that survive around it.

What are the main landmarks in Watford?

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London tops the list. Museum of Watford, the Bushey Museum and Art Gallery and the Hertfordshire Fire Brigade Museum cover the local past, while St Mary's Church, Oxhey Chapel and the Church of St John the Baptist, Aldenham are the older buildings worth the walk.

The Colosseum draws the music crowd. Atria shopping centre and Watford Market take the daytime trade, and Benskin's House and Frogmore House stand among the survivors.

What is the history of Watford?

St Mary's Church came first. The parish church stands at the old heart of Watford, and Oxhey Chapel, Oxhey Hall and the Oxhey Hall moated site carry the story of the manors that lay around it. Watford Place and the Manor House belong to that ground.

Frogmore House, the Dower House, Hamper Mill House and Delrow House date the centuries when this was Hertfordshire farmland rather than a town of any size. Then the trains came. The Old Station House survives from that arrival, and Benskin's House stands among the buildings the growing town left behind, while new parishes were carved out for the streets filling in around them.

St John's Church, the Church of St Andrew, the Church of St Matthew, the Church of St James and the Church of St Peter all served that expansion. Bushey and Oxhey were drawn in alongside. The Bushey Museum and Art Gallery, the Hertfordshire Fire Brigade Museum and the Museum of Watford hold the record between them, while Warner Bros.

Studio Tour London added a wholly different chapter on the outskirts. The Congregational Church and the Church of St Michael remain from the older list.

Where is Watford?

The Colne runs through it. Watford stands on the banks of the River Colne in Hertfordshire, fifteen miles north-west of Central London and only a few miles from the Greater London boundary, which puts open country and the capital within the same short reach. Bushey and Oxhey sit alongside.

Aldenham lies out beyond them, and the borough covers rather more ground than the built-up centre suggests.

What is the climate of Watford?

The Colne valley keeps things damp. Watford lies close enough to London for the city's warmth to blunt the frost, yet far enough out that the open Hertfordshire country cools the nights, which makes for grey mild winters and summers that seldom turn severe. Rain arrives in short spells.

Dry evenings fill Cassio Road and the paths along the river, and the Atria shopping centre absorbs the wet ones.

How do you get to Watford?

Trains do the heavy lifting. National Rail services reach Central London in about twenty minutes, and the London Underground and Overground networks take slightly longer from Watford, which puts the capital within easy daily reach. The Greater London boundary is a few miles off.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London sits out on the edge of town.