Broxbourne

Broxbourne's hotels and guesthouses suit two very different kinds of visitor: families heading for Hertfordshire Zoo and the Lee Valley's water sports, and travellers using the town as a well-connected stop just off the A10 and within easy reach of the M25. Options in the town itself lean towards practical, well-priced stays - pubs with rooms along the river and small independent guesthouses - while nearby Hoddesdon, Cheshunt and Hertford add a wider range of chain hotels and country house properties within a short drive.

Because Broxbourne station puts London Liverpool Street around half an hour away, several visitors choose to base themselves here rather than in the capital, trading city prices for a quieter riverside setting without losing easy access to central London. Anyone staying overnight to explore the Lee Valley White Water Centre, Paradise Wildlife Park or the walking trails through Broxbourne Woods will find the town's accommodation conveniently placed for an early start, with the river, marinas and woodland all within walking or short driving distance of most places to stay.

Broxbourne's appeal is split fairly evenly between water, woodland and wildlife, with a couple of genuinely notable attractions thrown in.

• Lee Valley Regional Park — the green spine of the town, offering waymarked walking and cycling routes, picnic meadows and nature reserves that stretch for miles along the Lea valley.
• Lee Valley White Water Centre — the Olympic canoe slalom venue from London 2012, a short drive away, where visitors can watch elite paddlers train or book their own white-water rafting and kayaking sessions.
• Lee Valley Boat Centre — hire electric day boats, rowing boats or pedalos and spend an afternoon exploring the calm waters of the River Lea and its old mill pools.
• Broxbourne Woods National Nature Reserve — Hertfordshire's only National Nature Reserve, a Special Area of Conservation covering Broxbourne Wood, Bencroft Wood, Hoddesdonpark Wood and Wormley Wood, with a wheelchair-accessible sculpture trail and bluebell displays each spring.
• Hertfordshire Zoo (Paradise Wildlife Park) — a family-run zoo and conservation centre on the edge of town, home to big cats, primates and a popular dinosaur-themed adventure trail, plus close-up animal encounters.
• Rye House Gatehouse — a 15th-century fortified gatehouse a short walk from Rye House station, with links to the Elizabethan-era Rye House Plot against Queen Elizabeth I.
• Broxbourne Old Mill and Meadows — a Lee Valley Park site combining former mill buildings, wildflower meadows and riverside walks at the northern edge of the town.

The Crown on Old Nazeing Road is Broxbourne's best-known riverside pub, a 1930s building on a bend of the River Lea with a large garden, narrowboat moorings and a menu of cask ales and stone-baked pizzas. The High Street and surrounding streets offer a mix of cafes, takeaways and independent restaurants serving everything from traditional English fare to Italian and Indian cuisine, while Paradise Wildlife Park's own eateries - including the Tiger Treetops cafe - cater for family days out without needing to leave the grounds.

Broxbourne sits at the heart of the Lee Valley Regional Park, and the surrounding countryside offers a genuine taste of camping and glamping within Hertfordshire's green belt, despite being so close to London. As in the rest of England, wild camping without the landowner's permission is illegal, so pitching up in Broxbourne Woods or along the riverside meadows without prior arrangement is not an option - visitors should instead look to the licensed campsites and glamping sites dotted around the wider Lee Valley and Hertfordshire countryside.

The terrain here is gentle and low-lying, shaped by the River Lea, its old mill channels and a string of former gravel-pit lakes now managed as nature reserves - ideal for family camping trips that mix easy cycling and walking with canoeing, paddleboarding or a day at the Lee Valley White Water Centre. Broxbourne Woods National Nature Reserve, just to the west of the town, adds a very different character, with dense ancient oak and hornbeam woodland, waymarked trails and a wheelchair-accessible sculpture route that makes for a memorable woodland walk from a nearby pitch.

Late spring and summer are the best seasons to camp in this part of Hertfordshire: the woods are at their most vivid after the bluebells fade into full leaf canopy, the river and lakes are at their most inviting for boating and paddling, and long evenings suit campfire cooking in a riverside pitch. Glamping options in the wider Lee Valley area range from simple canvas bell tents to fully-equipped safari lodges, giving visitors who want the outdoor setting of the valley without the full demands of traditional camping a comfortable way to experience Broxbourne's waterways and woodland at a slower pace.