Hatfield House fountain

Xavier allowed me to spend a few minutes sketching when we visited Hatfield House on Monday. I’d always known that Hatfield House was where Queen Elizabeth I lived as a child and where she learned that she had become Queen of England. So I fondly imagined, before I moved to the adjacent town, St Albans, that Hatfield would be a beautiful historic English town. Hmmm – well, the graffiti-spattered, decaying, boarded-up ghetto of a town centre that seems mainly to consist of pound shops and charity shops is about as far away as you could get from what I’d expected. However, Hatfield House, the gardens and the park are as grand and beautiful as you would expect the home of a Tudor monarch in waiting to be. And if you live in Hatfield, there are some compensations, access to the grounds is free to Hatfield residents. The management of Hatfield House do make people jump through hoops a little – they need to go to the office next to St Etheldreda’s parish church with two proofs of residence and a passport photo to get a pass, but then year-round they can enjoy the gorgeous grounds for free.

Pen, with digital colour added later