Community Links

Sites of Interest

Pastoral Centre – All Saints Pastoral Centre was built in 1901 as a convent for the All Saints Sisters. It was acquired by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster in 1973. The main part of the centre is built round a quadrangle garden. Although the building has been adapted to meeting and conferencing requirements it has retained its beauty, charm and tranquillity. The centre today caters for residential and non-residential conferences, meetings and retreats mainly from the religious sector. The grounds are available for guests to wander and there is a well signed Prayer Walk which runs through the grounds taking in Chantry Island. Although this is now a wooded piece of land with a small shrine surrounded by a moat it was once an island in the middle of the River Colne which now flows a field-width to the north. It is purported that this was once the site of the priest’s home who St Alban befriended and protected by swapping cloaks, so that he, Alban, was arrested by Roman soldiers and taken to the nearby city of Verulamium, where he was executed and became the first Christian martyr in Britain.  www.allsaintspc.org.uk

Salisbury Hall – Formerly Shenley Manor, circa 16th Century. Amongst the notable people who have lived there are Nell Gwyn, Lady Randolph Churchill, Sir Nigel Gresley and Walter Goldsmith. In September 1939 the de Havilland Aircraft Company established the Mosquito design team in Salisbury Hall where they developed the prototype Mosquito which was subsequently built on the site. The Hall itself is no longer open to the public.

de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre (inc the Mosquito Aircraft Museum) is just west of Salisbury Hall.  It is the home of the prototype Mosquito and also on display are a variety of de Havilland aircraft and sections, ranging from a Tiger Moth to modern military and civil jets. The collection is open to the public between March and October.  www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk

Broad Colney Lakes Nature Reserve – This is a landscape of 26 acres, shaped by gravel extraction in the 1920s. The pits were left filled with water and nature took over, creating an attractive and important home for wildlife. There are roach, perch, pike and very large carp in the Lakes. Many birds nest here and insects attracted to these trees provide them with food. There is a public footpath that runs from the Village Green along the side of Long Lake through to Shenley Lane. There are also other footpaths that lead through the reserve around Small Lake and North Lake. The Reserve car park is accessible from Shenley Lane. www.hertswildlifetrust.org.uk

Willows Farm Village – An excellent day out for the family. Many native and rare breed farm animals to see, along with some foreign attractions such as Reindeer and Wallabies. They have special demonstrations every weekend and children’s holiday activities. There is also a large farm shop with a restaurant.  www.willowsfarmvillage.com

Coppice Wood – This 7.5 hectare wood is classified as Ancient Woodland. Although it is just 620m from the High Street, it is entirely within the Ridge Parish. The wood is privately owned and jointly managed by the Woodland Trust.  Access is permitted and in the early part of the year you will find wild violets and wood anemones. In April/May the Bluebells are spectacular. A favourite with dog walkers and children.

Dudley Wood – Sits along site the larger Coppice wood and was originally  a playing field for Colney Heath Parish Council. Over the years it fell into disrepair and in the 1990s when the then Parish Clerk of Colney Heath, whose name was  Dudley Wood, disappeared on a walking holiday in the Pyrenees Mountains the Parish Council decided to replant the field with young saplings and dedicate it to the former Parish Clerk. Parish boundaries changed in 2000 and it now sits in London Colney Parish, where the Parish Council have encouraged the trees to grow allowed the undergrowth to thicken and encourage wildlife, such as pheasants and deer.